Tales of a Demon
by Daemonai
Summary: A young girl helped from ShinRa labs accidently finds herself in the hunt for Sephiroth. However, she has no objections, after all, she has her own buisness with him. What is her connection to Sephiroth and what do the demons of her past have to say?
1. Demons Unleashed

Hello my friends! This is entirely my own writing through the POV of my character Scura. You don't find out much of what she looks like until later, but if you want to guess go right on ahead. Reviews are appreciated but flames are not. If you have something about my fiction you dislike, please just say it kindly. No need to yell at me. Contrary to popular beleif, I take to heart what my reviewers say to me. With love- Daemonai.

S-S-S-S-S-S

It's been so many years since I last heard from Jerino, my twin, another monster child like me. Even longer from the parents I've never met. Bubbles rise from my nose and tickle my face. Soon, however, I can feel a presence, one that comforts me yet scars me. Though I fear for my eyes, I open them and peer through the mako the bastard scientists have put me in.

There, on the other side of the glass, is a man cloaked but looking at me curiously. I closed my eyes to hide the fear and confusion.

In this place, it's always best to just close your eyes and will yourself away. However, thoughts of what the people always said about me when they saw me came to mind. _She looks just like her father!_ I used to be flattered, I'd heard the stories of him, but then, hate and fear took pride's place.

Because he did nothing to get my brother and I back. I realize that I will be marred with this face, this hair, these eyes, for the rest of my life. I would forever be stuck looking like _him._

I would forever look like my father.

Through my hateful thoughts I failed to notice he had his fist pulled back until the glass around me broke, shards flying into my skin and making blood and mako mix, burning. It didn't last long because I jerked back the mask once the cursed liquid was low enough and stared at him. His eyes looked so gentle...

I wanted to cry. Had he finally come for me? But I couldn't forgive him. My vision grew hazy and I heard him speak briefly and saw him drop something onto the table before I blacked out.

When I woke, glass was covering my skin and the remains of the mako make my skin glow eerily. With a groan, I push myself up, hissing as shards bite into my flesh. What should I do...? I wondered meekly as I allowed my hair to cover my chest as I stood, then crawled out of the hole. I raised my nose into the air and sniffed. No danger yet. Hurriedly, I moved to the table. There were clothes, but most importantly-

A katana. Defense and offence. I could leave, I hoped. I moved the blade to the side and picked at the clothes. There was nothing there in the way of underwear but a pair of boxers. Joy.

I slipped them on anyway and tossed on the shirt and pants. The shirt was a black turtleneck with the sleeves hacked off and the pants were baggy and appeared to be from a soldier uniform. A pair of boots were there and I attempted to squeeze into them, they were too small, so I just left them. I clipped the sword to my side and started walking, when I noticed something else, it was by the pool of mako, partially wet, but it was there, a cloak. I greedily snatched it up and put it around me, covering my hair and face.

As soon as that was on, I was gone, the room that had been my hell for so long, I hoped I would never see again. Up ahead, battle cries reached my ears and I hesitated, grabbing my katana. Then I lunged forward, drawing the blade and slicing the monster ahead of me in half. A man with a sword as big as his whole body stood in front of me, holding the sword at ready, both glaring at me in distrust and surprise.

"Who are you?" He demanded. I blinked in surprise and lifted the hood enough to see him.

"I am Scura." My voice is raspy from disuse and I reach up to rub it. "Who are you?" After hesitation, he replied.

"Cloud." I bowed my head. "Why are you here?" His stance stayed defensive.

"Experiment, I used to be, I refuse to be now." I coughed hard, the words hard to utter. His stance finally relaxed and he replaced the sword on his back. I put my own Katana away. The man turned and ran and I followed. He only glanced at me in annoyance but kept running. A few floors down, a woman awaited. The woman with black hair looked at Cloud in relief, hardly glancing at me.

"Where's Rufus?" Wow, what a great greeting. I glanced at the busty woman. I was one to speak though.

"I couldn't finish 'em. Looks like this is gunna get complicated." She finally looked at me.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Scura." I said wearily. She just nodded and Cloud took the opportunity to start running downstairs. The woman started running after him.

"I'm Tifa- come on!" I was surprised, but I followed quietly and quickly. Many flights of stairs later, Cloud broke from us with a small explanation to the woman I just met. More flights down there were more people and I hesitated, stalling in confusion. I sensed no danger from them, but on the other side of the exit.

"Barret!" Tifa called. The group looked at us. I got a strange look and I pulled the cloak over my face more.

"Tifa! Where's Cloud?" The black man, Barret, asked. She just ignored him.

"Everyone, over here!" As the group ran over, Barret looked confused. I followed quietly.

"Huh? What's up? Where's Cloud?"

"I'll tell you later! Hurry, hurry!" There was a truck nearby and she jumped in and hotwired it, getting everyone inside. The woman in pink got in front with Tifa while I, the cat and Barret got in back. Cloud came bursting out a moment later on a motorcycle and lead Tifa out. Gunfire followed us and I drew my Katana and tried to block as many blows as I could. Cloud was doing the same as Barret fired at oncoming soldiers, only to have his gun short circuit briefly.

"Shit man!" He knocked at it a few times and got it working again. We managed to fight them off, only to have them draw back.

"Hell yeah!" Barret cheered. I raised my nose to the air and hunkered back briefly.

"Don't celebrate yet." I warned.

"Whatchu mean? We beat their sorry asses!" The cat, however, lifted its nose and got defensive. Cloud pulled close just then.

"She's right." I looked at him in surprise, but the others weren't fazed.

"How you know it's a she?" Barret asked. "Sounds like a guy to me." I froze and glared at him.

"I am a girl-" I took a raspy, angry breath. "I'm fifteen and have been an experiment-" I drew another shaky breath. "For fourteen years." They looked at me funny.

"What's with your voice then?"

"Haven't spoken in... five years. Since I last saw... Jerino, my twin." I started coughing and rubbed my throat and looked up as shots fired and the road ahead of us blew up. Tifa slammed on the breaks, knocking us all back. Cloud swerved and fell off his bike with a grunt. I pushed myself up and jumped in front of the Pink Lady, taking a blow to the back instead of her. I hissed and turned, still clutching my katana to see a metal ball come at us, firing and attacking. Barret jumped up and started firing and Tifa jumped out of the car to help fight. Cloud pushed himself up and grasped his sword. Soon, even the cat and Pink Lady were ready to fight. Well, the cat was- the Pink Lady was healing wounds.

The thing fired before any of us could attack and the only one that wasn't able to dodge was me, of course. I grumble and jump forward and try to slice through the metal. It didn't work too well, hardly made a dent.

Of course I get left a freaking defective sword.

Cloud's attack, however, did a lot of damage, as did Barret's, but not Tifa's or the Cat's. I attack in the same place that Cloud had since it was weaker and managed to cut through and expose the wires. Someone cast thunder as I landed, I wasn't sure who, and the machine started locking up but fired, this time hitting us all. I grunted as I felt some of the bullets pass through my stomach, the others getting hit in the arm or leg. The cat attacked and ripped out a main wire and the thing went down. This time, I smelled no more danger and put my katana away before falling to my knees, grasping my stomach. The Pink Lady finished healing the others, but I could tell she was out of magic and had no ethers on her.

"I have some bandages." she offered but I waved her off.

"I'll be fine." I stood up and pulled the shirt up a bit and thrust my fingers in to pull out a bullet. She looked horrified and turned away. After a moments digging, I got it out and nearly hurled from pain. The wounds then glowed green and healed. "See? I'm all better." I smiled, but she couldn't see it so I let it quickly drop.

"Why don't you take off your hood?" She asked, reaching to do so. I jerked back and made sure it hid my whole face.

"I just... don't want to." She left it at that.

"I'm Aerith, this is Barret." I knew that one. "That's Cloud." She pointed at the blond then to Tifa. "That's Tifa, and this is Red XIII." She looked at the cat who nodded. I pulled back the sleeve of my cloak to reveal the numerals for two burned into my skin.

"I'm Scura." The cat's eyes narrowed a bit. He was an experiment and after a moment, I recognized him. "You! You and I... used to be in the same cell holding..." He nodded and I would have paled if I could have.

"I remember you too." It was a kind voice. He had been nice to me, I remembered briefly.

He just turned away. Was he not going to tell? Then they looked ahead at the broken freeway. Well, it had already been broken for some time, the robot just made it worse. There were signs blinking in warning. Barret's gruff voice broke the silence.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"Sephiroth is alive. I... I have to settle the score." We all looked at Cloud. The larger man frowned.

"And that will save the Planet?" There was a pause.

"Seems like it."

"Awlright, I'm going."

"I'll go too... I have many things that I want to find out."

"About the ancients?" I looked at Aerith, surprised. An ancient? Could this gentle lady really be one of them? It certainly seemed impossible.

"Many things." She finally said.

"I'll go too." I said quietly. "My reasons are that of Cloud's. Cloud looked at me, confused, but said nothing about it.

"I guess this is goodbye, Midgar." Soon, Barret found a rope for us to climb down. Red huffed and jumped on and off the rubble to reach the bottom since he had no hands. I let the others go before me, though I didn't want them to. I was sure they could see my face, so I just stared forward and glanced down. No one was looking up, they were waiting, but they looked ready to go, so I just let go and landed beside them. Red spoke before I could.

"I'm going back to my hometown. I'll go with you as far as that."

"I guess this is the start of our journey." I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was looking around in awe. This was the first time I had ever seen such an open, green space. It was so beautiful and for once, my senses weren't clouded with discussing air and I could breathe, really breathe.

"It's nice, isn't it?" I looked down at the fire-tailed beast.

"Yes... I've never... seen anything like this." I looked around, so amazed. "I've been locked up so long. Caged beast released." I smiled lightly, so thrilled.

"It is wonderful. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be free myself." There was a loud commotion behind us and we looked back, almost in despair, at the broken peace.

"'Sides, we can't have six people strolling down the fields. Split us into two parties." I thought he looked like my little brother when he lost- so very pouty. He was even sitting to sulk. It was funny and I couldn't help but chuckle. He glared at me and I shut up.

Cloud thought briefly and looked over us.

"Aerith, Scura- you're with me." Barret frowned.

"Thought you might do somethin' like that. Later, at Kalm." Everyone went with their groups and went their separate ways. I frowned, looking at Cloud. He noted my bemused expression.

"I don't trust you." He said, monotone. I was taken aback. Before I had a chance to ask why, he replied. "There's something about you. Not only that, but why don't you show your face? What do _you_ have to settle with Sephiroth?" I bit my retort back and thought.

"My face is horrid after all the experiments I was put through. Sephiroth... He took my parents away from me." It wasn't all true, of course. Parts were, yes, but not all. He frowned.

"What did-" The pink lady cut him off.

"Where did you live before they took you away?" Cloud frowned at her but I silently thanked her as a savior.

"I hardly know." I closed my eyes. "I was only a year old, but... I remember living in a place where my brother and I got... lost in all the time and we made it a point to do so our parents... would play with us. We loved to play, but my mother always... always won." I smiled softly. She looked confused.

"How do you remember that? Children don't start remembering things until they turn three." She mused. I looked at her and my hood lifted slightly in the breeze. She looked eager to see, though Cloud couldn't see what happened. I snatched it and kept my face covered.

"I'm not a normal girl; shall we leave it at that?" Because it was so easy to explain that your mother was a monster that loved death and was part of a small race that people feared. It was really easy to tell people you hardly know about some of your deepest secrets, defiantly. What was I supposed to say? Uh, yeah, well- about that. My mother's a monster in a human form known as a Demon and my father's an asshole of a human so that means I'm a Hellfling and my memories actually start at the age of seven months old?

Yeah, right.

"You said you had a brother?" Cloud's voice this time.

"Yeah, Jerino. He's my twin, but he's younger then me."

"Where is he?" Pink Lady again.

"He's... probably still back at ShinRa... We were separated. I think... they took him to a different base." I bowed my head. Thankfully my speech was improving. My voice was no longer raspy but it was different from the last time I talked. It sounded more... seductive. Yuck! I think I prefer it to be raspy! I so don't want a guy when I'm only fifteen! I made sure the cloak hid my hair as we kept walking. Only a second later, we were surrounded by five fiends. Instantly, we all had our weapons. I was the only one facing the two that were behind us. Aerith and Cloud had the front two. Great. Two on one. It's not really a problem for me.

Except for the fact that they were cats.

You know, it really sucks to have to kill a creature that's a distant cousin of yours. I made a warning yowl and they looked at each other, confused. Behind me, I could hear rumbling of machines and the two attacking. Aerith sucked, I can tell you that easily. One was down already thanks to Cloud. Ick. Way to add ego to the male mind. I was willing to let the Kalm Fangs get the hell out of there, but then they decided they wanted to go after Cloud and Aerith. With a sigh, I drag out my Katana and rip open the belly of one, cut off its head (getting covered in blood at the same time) and stopped the other. I gave it a dark look and it whined, saw its dead friend and attacked me.

Well, one swipe had it down, cut in half and dying. I killed it in a final blow, pitying it.

Cloud finished off the second one on his own and Aerith finally managed to kill her own. Surprise of surprises. Something caught my eye and I went to look at the corpses. How they got all this stuff around, I'll never know. But they had a hundred and eighty-four Gil and a hi-potion. Not each, but combined. I pocketed the items and looked as Cloud did the same.

The brunet, however, looked sickened at the thought. Cloud glanced behind to make sure I had finished the two and then started walking. I grumbled and walked beside the other female. She looked pale and got better once we were away from the bodies.

"First real kill?" I asked her. She nodded.

"What about you?"

"No... I've killed before. They would make a lot of fiends attack me and I killed them all..." I sigh. "The scientists..." I just shut up there. They don't need to hear my sob-story. Thankfully, they just stayed quiet. We got attacked by a few more monsters before it was night and time to set up camp. Which consisted of us sitting in a circle of low-grass. I lifted my head and sniffed. Somehow, Aerith heard.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked. Cloud looked over.

"Doing what?" He asked.

"She's sniffing. She keeps doing it."

"Oh..."

"I'm trying to find danger. I can smell if there are any dangerous creatures near. There's none right now..." Cloud frowned.

"What exactly are you?"

"Cloud... I don't want to talk about it." I frown at him. "It's not easy to talk about to someone you hardly know."

"Well, lets get to know each other!" Pink Lady's voice is getting on my nerves now... "I'm Aerith Gainsborough." So we're learning last names.

"I'm Scura. I'm afraid I don't really know what my last name is, so I just call myself Scura. I think my last name was something along the lines of Night..." I lied with a shrug. We looked at Cloud who folded his arms.

"Cloud Strife." He said, shrugging. "I'm twenty one."  
"Fifteen, almost sixteen." I said, shrugging.

"Twenty two." Cloud almost looked sulky.

"What? Too young or too old for you?" I teased him. Oh, I hate my voice because now Cloud looked at me, amused.

"I don't really care." Cloud snorted.

"Really? Then were you sulking because this pretty lady is older then you?" He glared and we giggled.

"I guess she's right!" Pink Lady said cheerfully. The spiked blonde boy just grumbled. Well, he was a man, but so what? He didn't act like any man I knew. Which was limited to Hojo, Tseng, Reno, Rufus, Hedigar and the president, but I didn't know his name since no one said it around me. Unless it was 'Bastard' but I doubted that. I'll tell you what; Tseng, Reno and Rufus were the only guys I could really stand. Everyone else was just an ass, looking at me in disgusting pride or perverse wanting. Again, a reason I didn't want to have a boyfriend.

And they were talking to me.

"-End up there?" Well, the only place I could think of that they could be talking about was the lab, but-

"Huh?" Smooth, huh?

"I said," Broody-pants started again- annoyed. "How did you escape and end up there?"

"Um, I got released by some guy that went around destroying cages and tubes." I shrugged. It wasn't really a lie.

"It was Sephiroth." Cloud said, looking at me sharply. I almost reached for my hood, fearing it had fallen but I kept my hands still.

"Why was he doing that though...?" I asked, honestly bemused.

"Jenova was there, he was going after her." I merely nodded.

"Why were you there?" They glanced at each other and I raised a brow.

"We were rescuing Aerith." He said finally.

"Why-"

"The Turks, Tseng actually, had captured me."

"The Cetra thing, right?" She nodded.

"What about you?" I was silent, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. It took me a minute to reply.

"I don't really know." Lie. "But a lot of bad shit happened to me." They looked at each other and then back at me. "I'm not going into it now." I said before they could ask. It was silent for a while. "Where are you from?" I asked finally.

"Midgar,"

"Nibelheim," They replied at the same time, so it came out sounding something like "Mnibgalheim." Or something like that. I just snorted.

"I have heard stories about both places."

"What kind of stories?"

"Good ones, bad ones." I shrug. More silence until Aerith yawned. "Sleep," I offer. "I'll take first watch." Cloud frowned.

"No- I will." I frowned back and opened my mouth. "I still don't trust you." I sigh and nod, thinking its fair and lay back, though I doubt I'll sleep. I felt Aerith lay beside me and sighed. We'd need to get camping gear. Honestly.

I was right when I said I wouldn't sleep. But at the same time, I was wrong. I slept briefly, curled like a cat, but nightmares woke me. I sat up quickly and raised my nose to the air. There was something nearby. Cloud was looking at me, well, more like at the hair that was exposed by my cloak. I panicked briefly, before I remembered that my bangs were black- unlike the rest of my hair.

"What's wrong?" He asked as I stood, reaching for my Katana.

"Something's nearby. Watch Aerith- I'll go check it out." He frowned and grabbed hold of his hilt. I knew he would object, so I left before he had the chance. I was right when I said that there was something nearby. There were three of them. Huge, ugly red men. Manholes. I knew they were supposed to be hard to beat. They were kinda huge, so I didn't doubt it. I glanced at my katana and tossed it to the side, removing my hood as well. It spotted me and snarled and went to attack. I sneered and threw my head back in a howl. It drew back; stunned as the voice from my throat was a mixture of horrid sounds.

The howl of a wolf, hiss of a cat and dying scream of a woman.

That's what it sounds like; at least that's what I'm told. The next instant though, I could feel my body shifting. Bones cracking, skin stretching and covering with fur or scales. Fingers gained sharper claws and turn into paws. Tail and spikes growing from my body. Tell you what, hurts like hell but to see the terror on the thing's face, it was priceless. I was now much, _much_ bigger then them now. I grinned at them as they tried to hide, screaming. I opened my mouth wide, since the fangs would get in the way otherwise, and shredded them. I felt myself grow a little stronger and shivered and shook out my tail and body, looking at the corpses, finding all the extra Gil. There was three, nine-thousand Gil.

I gave a howl and slowly, painfully slowly, started turning back into my human form, shivering as I reached my goal. Of course everything gets painful, transforming to and from the demonic form. Bones grow, bend and become brittle for a few moments until they become harder then steel. Skin rips and stretches becoming covered with fur. Beautiful fur that gleamed in the pale moonlight.

Then there were the extra appendixes. The tail, for one, hurt like hell to grow. But it was so fun- the scaled thing was as long as a large home lengthwise and not even Barret would be able to wrap his arms around my tail and touch his hand to his gun arm. Then came the spikes. Painful things made of bone with little hooks naturally in them. _Fun to spear things on_, I muse. _They never can figure out how to get off._

That and they could carry things, like luggage and what not. So they had many uses. My nose and eyes stayed the same- to a point. The sense of smell stayed, though the nose itself became perched on a long, cat-like muzzle. This was so cute, apparently. Eyes got bigger, nothing more. Stayed the same color. Like my fur stays the color of my hair. The head part stays black.

After that comes the claw.

Yeah, claws. Big, long things that could retract like a normal cat's. Did I mention that each one was about the size of a buster-blade?

Only a little bit shorter. Just a little.

Lastly, of course, are the teeth. All become razor sharp and my fangs get much bigger. I mean, I already start off with large ones, but the fangs when I'm transformed are three feet longer then my chin. Which naturally means I'm a big beast to hold up such a heavy load, right?

Thing is, I'm really light- only a hundred pounds more then my original one-hundred thirty pound body to begin with. For a beast the size of a small ship, that's pretty damn skinny!

Again, I love being able to become my true beast. Though at the lab, I was unable to do it much because either the rooms were too small, or I was not alone. With a sigh, I turned to glance about. I couldn't smell anyone near enough yet. But it was best to hurry- I could tell I had woken Aerith and Cloud was on edge. The howl was loud…

In only a few moments, I had my katana on my hip and cloak back over my shoulders and face. I was lucky I had done so. Just as I was picking up the Gil, Cloud and Aerith were right behind me.

"What was that?" He demanded.

"These Manholes. I found them just as they started attacking each other. I just took out the survivor." I tried to say it like it was scary or something, something to make Cloud leave me alone. Like that would happen, it turned out.

"I do know they are territorial, but I don't think they'd attack each other." He eyed me. I almost wondered about how he would react if he saw my other form.

I had to stop from snickering.

"We should just be glad she's okay." Who knew the Pink Lady would come to my defense all the time? But I could tell she doubted as well. She kept glancing at me. Cloud grumbled and I realized that he had been holding his buster blade as he went to put it back on his back.

I really should pay more attention. As my thoughts drift off, they talk about who should take next shift.

"-were sleeping, she looks wide-"

"-rude, I can handle it, Cloud!"

"So can she, you're still-"Were the only things I really made out.

"I'll do it." I had no problem with it. After all, I had been sleeping in a freaking tube for _four days._ No more sleepy time for me, thank you. Especially since now I was having nightmares.

At least in the mako I didn't dream.

"-sure?" It was Aerith and I had been ignoring them again.

I gotta stop doing that!

"Yeah, I'm sure." I nod. "Shall we go back…?" We had left the majority of our stuff there. Which included Aerith's rod.

Actually, I think that was pretty much it.

They laid down and sleep quickly took them. I wondered what it was like to sleep so well, so undisturbed by dreams. It almost made me angry that they wouldn't have the same nightmares I had always had. All memories of what happened at the lab. I would live with them and the only one who would share that pain would be Jerino. My shoulders sag as I think of my 'lost' brother. For all I knew, he was dead. For all I knew, they had him in a permanent coma. I had no idea what had happened to him and that hurt worse then anything else. I drew my knees to my chest and cried silently. With my face burrowed into them, even the deep, quick breaths were silenced.

I didn't stop crying until the sun rose the next morning.


	2. Cloud's Past

Hello Everyone. I appologize it took me so long to post, but I have two lovely reviewers I would love to thank! Now, I realize the next bit is going to seem random, but it is importaint. I also realize that I have not done a disclaimer. So here it is!

I do not own Final Fantasy Seven, any of it's characters, but Scura and Jerino and others that will be seen later, are mine.

By the by, I need a beta, anyone up for the job?

Read and enjoy.

Aerith looked at me funny in the morning when we were packing up. I think some womanly instinct told her something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" she asked me gently. Yep, womanly instinct strikes again. "You never woke me up for my watch..."

"I didn't want to sleep anyway." She frowned and Cloud stood from his sleep daze and looked at us.

"Let's go," I snorted and they looked at me. I _would _try to look innocent, but it wouldn't be worth much since they can't see my face. They won't if I have my way.

"Nothing, Chocoboy." I started walking and he glared darkly at me. Aerith, however, was enjoying the joke and caught up with me, holding her rod at her side. My katana swung at my side.

"Did you name it?" She asked after a moment.

"Uh, what?"

"Your sword." She giggled.

"No... Should I?"

"A lot of people name their blades." Cloud said, monotone as usual.

"Why are we discussing this?" I asked, honestly confused.

"Because it's boring right now and I want to talk about something." Aerith, you sure know how to speak.

"Well, uh, you name your rod and I'll name my Katana..." She was caught off guard. After all, you don't normally name bits of wood. Naming some steel didn't seem to be very practical either though.

"Um..." She looked at it. It was very plain. "Ivy?"

"Works," I shrug and look at my blade. It took me a few minutes of staring, stumbling and thinking to get a name. "Masumi."

Why the hell did he look so jumpy?

"It sounds like Masamune... Sephiroth's blade." I swallowed.

"So? It's not Masamune. It's Masumi." I grudgingly admitted he was right. The blond grunted and just walked-

Into some Kalm Fangs and a chocobo. Can someone tell me why the hell the chocobo hangs out with predators? I mean, hell- I'd eat the damn thing. They don't look hungry at all though, just freaked out and territorial.

Isn't life just grand?

The three cats ignored me completely and attacked Cloud and Aerith. I seriously feel hated. I mean, I should be happy they don't want to fight me, but still. Aren't I a good enough opponent for them? Cloud struck and killed one right off. Aerith did not- she hit one and got hit, her dress tearing a bit. We'll also need to learn to sow, I see. I crack my knuckles loudly enough that I get the attention of the cats; giving Cloud another attack on the one Aerith tried to kill, but missed. It just jumped out of the way. Aerith attacked a different one and missed. I attacked while they were focused on me and cut it in half, severing the head from the body.

Yay! I hit where the others missed. My mini victory was cut in half as I got hit. It shredded its claws into my stomach and bit my arm. I sat there in a daze, part of my face poking out of the cloak. I think I heard Aerith scream in surprise and Cloud rip the thing off me with his sword. It was a bad attack so it was only a small injury. I know because the thing attacked me again. This time in the chest and face. I screamed.

At least, I think it was me. Being in pain tends to make my head go fuzzy. The next think I know, I have Aerith trying to pull my cloak off so she can see the extent of the damage. I think she said something about lending Tifa her cure materia before they left. Which means I'm going to have to cure myself or-

Thoughts were interrupted as she accidently put her hand on my chest. A bloody scream rips through my throat and I pull away, gasping. I must have had my lungs pierced because blood really is staining my lips. I hesitantly lick the blood off the thin lips and take a shaky breath.

"I'll be okay..." I cough out blood as I sit up. Dizzy, I flop down. Cloud picks me up gently, which surprises me, and tries to get the cloak off while Aerith gets out some bandages. More blood leaks from my wounds on my face, arm, chest and stomach. Pathetically, I wonder why he suddenly cares. I push his hands away. "I'll be fine..." Slowly, green rises on my skin and the wounds heal, though the blood remains. Small scars now adorn my skin. But they'll fade in a few days. Both look a bit surprised.

"Where is your materia?" Cloud asks.

"You mean the one Jerino stuffed into my throat? It's still in my stomach." He snorted. "But that's a mastered fire materia. I don't have cure materia." I push myself away and stand, rubbing the previously injured body parts. My hood never revealed anything more then my lips and nose, thankfully.

I noticed Cloud had a gash on his shoulder and remembered Aerith's own wound. "Come here, you two." I held my glowing hands out and touched Cloud's shoulder, healing it quickly. He nodded in thanks and I touched Aerith's stomach and healed it as well.

"How much longer until Kalm?" I ask as I stand. Cloud just turns around and starts walking.

"How ever long it takes you to get moving." I glare at his back and mutter so only Aerith can hear.

"Stupid chocobo…" Then I perk up. "What happened to the chocobo that we came across?" Cloud grunted.

"It got away." I paused mentally.

"It sounds like you don't like them,"

"I don't." He snapped and walked on. Pink Lady looked at me.

"Because his head looks like one." She whispers. I laugh. I laugh so hard my chest hurts like I was just cut again. I glanced to make sure I wasn't while my ribs began to ache. Slowly, my laughter faded into snorts that sent Aerith and Cloud into fits of laughter. I smiled. For once, I felt truly at home. Truly wanted.

Man, I wish it would last!

You know what I realized? We've been walking for a while and skipped lunch since _someone_, namely Cloud, forgot that it was necessary to consume food to keep moving. Granted, I don't need food except for once a week, but, see…

I haven't eaten in five. Weeks. Yes, that's right my friends the scientists decided that my already freakishly small form needed some help. You know what else I realized? I'm really bitchy right now because of, you guessed it- I'm about to start my period.

I ever tell you how much I dislike most men? That I know at least. In the background Aerith and Cloud are arguing over hunger. It went something along these lines-

"Why didn't we pack food?"

"We didn't have any time."

"But we didn't eat dinner, then no breakfast, then no lunch, then no dinner, then no breakfast, now no lunch- I'm starving!"

"It's not my fault- either of you could have remembered." Hey, what do you know? His monotone voice now had irritation. Score one for us!

"How much further? Will we have enough money for food?"

"Yes- the monsters we fought gave us enough for a lot of food and materia." Cloud snapped. Aerith went silent and then.

"I'm hungry."

"So am I, but we should be at Kalm soon." And Cloud should be reaching his breaking point soon.

"Yeah, Cloud. I'm hungry too." I whined, giving him puppy eyes. Which stopped quickly when I remembered he couldn't see my face. A good thing, but annoying. How was I supposed to work my pathetic charm on him? Sexy voice seems to do something, but I don't like sexy voice. Sexy voice pisses me off.

"Shut _up_ already!" He snarls and I giggle.

"Score," I mutter. "Sorry Cloud." I say innocently. What happened to timid, quiet Scura anyway? I think she died when I left the lab. All talking ceased for about ten minutes until Aerith fell back to talk to me.

"Why were you in the lab?" She asked, trying to sound polite. I glanced over, quiet once more.

"I was taken from my family. Maybe one day I'll show you why." I sigh. I don't want to, really. But I know eventually they'll see my face.

As marked as it is.

"What about you? What's an Ancient?" She smiled slightly.

"I'm the last one. An Ancient is a person who knows about the planet. We know what goes on around us, about the things that happen to people we know and to the people that know our friends. We could talk to a spirit before it returned to the planet." She smiled slightly.

"I wish I could do something like that." Scura smiled. "I heal things, yes, but I would rather be able to know when things were going to happen so I could stop someone from being hurt. You understand, right?" She nodded.

We chatted quietly and Cloud didn't seem to mind us leaving him alone. There was one fight, but the thing died in one swing. I have no idea what it was either. Some scaly thing that looked like a lizard. I almost asked if I could keep it. But I didn't' think Cloud would like that.

It only took us another hour to get to Kalm.

"So this is Kalm?" I asked, glancing around at the expensive looking town.

"I wonder if everyone's there already. Let's hurry over to the inn!" She ran forward and went into the inn. I of course, hurried after her.

"Hurry up, Cloud!" I shouted at him as I disappeared into the inn. I followed Aerith up the stairs. A few minutes later Cloud made it.

"Cloud, you're late!"

"What the heck took you so long?"

"Yo man, you're late!" Aerith, Barret and I shouted at him as he came in. He didn't look fazed or like he even cared.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Guess everyone's here now." Aerith shrugged. Barret spoke up.

"So let's hear your story… You know, the one about Sephiroth," I tensed up at the name and Red looked at me, his eyes drilling me, daring me to do anything. "And the crisis facing the planet. Let's hear it all."

Cloud, for the first time, looked hesitant, scared almost. He glanced down at his feet then looked at Barret first, then at us all.

"I used to want to be like Sephiroth." Silently I asked why anyone would want to be like him. The guy was an asshole. He may have been a hero but I'd heard stories of how much he scared his troops and how mean he was. "-Working with Sephiroth on several missions, we became friends." Barret and I snorted.

"You call that a friend?"

"Yeah, seriously?"

"Yeah, well… He's older then me and he hardly ever talked about himself." Tifa was staring hard at him, but was tightlipped and silent.

"So I guess you could call him a war buddy… We trusted each other. Until one day..." Now, I still listened, but not as eagerly as before. I listened to how Cloud eagerly followed Sephiroth like a lost puppy, how they fought a dragon and got into the town. Somehow, Cloud remembered entire conversations. He told us how Sephiroth didn't have parents or a home town.

He said his mother died giving birth to him and he never really had a father. At that, I snorted and everyone looked at me.

"Sorry," I said respectfully. "I can just relate." Cloud frowned and continued his story.

Something, however, clicked in Barret's mind.

"Yo, wait a minute!" Everyone looks at Barret this time. "Isn't that, um… The name of Sephiroth's mother... I remember Jenova. That's that damn headless spook livin' in the Shinra building."

"That's right." Cloud nodded. I tuned things out until Cloud got back to his story, even then I only half listened. Each time he said the name Sephiroth, I got angrier. I wish I could rip out his heart, he ruined my life… I hate him. Hate him so much…

I, along with Aerith, giggled when Cloud told us about going into Tifa's room. Honestly, what was he thinking? That lightened my mood a little, at least. Tifa, we found out, was the town guide. And that Sephiroth hated getting his picture taken. That, I thought, was hilarious.

I listened as the bridge broke and they saw the Mako fountain, but soon, my eyes were closed and I was leaning against the wall, hood hiding my face. I slept. But it was far from a peaceful slumber.

In my dreams I was a small girl again with Hojo leering over me. _I was sitting in the familiar fetal position I always stayed in as a child. I was bleeding and staring ahead, looking dead. I knew, even in the dream, I wished I would just die. But I was unable to. When my body just healed itself, Hojo cackled._

"_Perfect," He then reached over and pulled over a needle of muck-brown liquid and this time, my eyes lit up in fear and I tried to crawl away only to have him pull me back by my foot and inject me in my chest right by my heart and into an important vain. I arched into the air, a silent scream ripping through my body and I squirmed in pain. It hurt, and my body tried to be rid of the poison but it stayed. My body felt like it was being ripped in two. Hojo was taking notes on how my body reacted._

_Off to the side, I could see him, my bastard of a father, laughing at my pain, cruelty in his eyes. This dream is something I always remember. But this time, it's different. There are two sides watching._

_Holding my father's hand is my brother, still small like the last time I saw him and staring at me, then my father in turn._

"_I chose father." He tells me in his pretty voice I always loved. It was the only voice I ever cared to hear, because he meant happiness and compassion. I cried more, reaching for my brother._

"_No!" I screamed at him. "Come back…" I begged him._

"_Don't worry, Scura," I turned my head to see the other group of people. I saw Red, Barret, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa. But none of them were the ones that spoke to me. It was a woman with a body that was fuzzy; there were two others there like her. She couldn't make out a single feature in any of them. "We're all here for you."_

"_Don't doubt it," Cloud said._

"_We'll be here for you!" Aerith chimed, smiling at me._

"_We won't leave you," Tifa promised._

"_Hell naw we won't!" Barret grinned at me and tears kept falling from my eyes. They stepped aside briefly and a man I didn't see before walked forward._

"_Don't worry; I'll be here for you too." I gasped and reached out for the newcomer. His red head moved closer and he reached out for me as well._ When he touched me, I woke up.

Everyone had left but Red and I jumped up, startled. He looked at me.

"Don't worry- they only just left. I was waiting for you to wake." He hopped over and sniffed. "Why were you crying?" He asked, tail flicking in concern.

"It was just a dream." I reached out and rubbed his ear briefly and started walking. "Red?"

"Yes?" He asked, walking beside me.

"You know who- what I am. Why…" I was a t a loss for words.

"Why don't I tell them?" He chuckled. "Because, that brief time in the same cell as you, I know you aren't anything like what you were supposed to be raised as." I smiled.

"I owe you," He smiled and ran down the stairs. I attempted to follow him without letting my hood fall off. All I can do is hope that these people really won't abandon me.

Downstairs Barret was giving Cloud something- a phone. Oh so fun. Seriously! You could prank call someone with one of those! My stomach growled. Red snorted and Cloud looked over from his conversation with Barret.

"Scura, Red, you're coming with me. Barret, you lead the other group." Barret nodded.

"Um, Cloud? Is there anyway I can go shop real fast? I need a pair of shoes-"I looked down at the bare feet. "And new clothes and food." Cloud looked at my feet then at the Gil.

"It might be a good idea for the shoes and food." He admitted. "Do you need any gil?" I shook my head.

"No, I got some." I smiled and dropped it, knowing once more he couldn't see.

"Come back in twenty minutes." I protested.

"Nineteen minutes." I sighed and ran off to do as instructed. First I stopped at a weapon shop, looked over the selections and just got a few upgrades put into it. However, I had to come back in about a half hour to get it.

Since I had other things to do, I had no complaint. Until I realized I was being followed by Red.

"Red?" I turned back to look at him.

"Did you think I'd leave you to this alone?" He asked, snorting.

"Guess not," I waited for him to catch up fully before walking again. "I'm going to get a disguise." I confessed to him as we walked into a clothing store. He 'hummed' and glanced at the items for sale. I picked up a pair of pants, still black but more fitting then the ones I wore. They looked about my size so I just walked on to find a shirt next.

"Here," Red called. I followed him, amused as he had trouble keeping his flame-tail from burning the clothes. He was nosing a red top with "Careful- I have claws" written on it. I giggled.

"Really, Red?" He chuckled.

"Why not?" I shrugged and picked it up and went to try it on. I smiled once the clothes were there. It looked nice. The pants were perfect and the top exposed my lightly-toned stomach. I traded clothes again.

"Good choice." I told him. He gave me a look and I ignored it in favor of getting a bra, at least. I was quite happy to find one and put that into the 'buy' pile. I had to hurry, however, because I had little over ten minutes. I gathered a sock pair and a pair of boots, after trying them on of course, and decided to hurry and buy them. I grabbed a large backpack from the rack near the front and tossed the recently purchased items inside. Red dashed ahead to go find food and I had to push past most people to get by. I passed a prop shop with merchandise sitting outside.

Without really thinking, I snatched a bottle of permanent hair dye in the color black and a white half- mask. _Maybe I could be rid of the hood?_ I wondered. No one noticed me slip the items into my backpack. I pulled out the Gil necessary from the foods Red ordered in my slow absence. He held the bag in his mouth and looked at me patiently. I took the bag and placed it in my backpack.

"We have to stop at the weapon shop really fast." I said as I ran to go do so. Red kept up with me easily, everyone staying out of his way. I arrived five minutes early, which meant I was five minutes late on Cloud's watch. I started digging out my Gil, going through how much I had already spent. I had bought boots with material slots which cost me a thousand dollars, socks were five Gil, the shirt was twenty five, and the pants were thirty two. All the food Red got was about three hundred and twenty five Gil and the sword… all the things the guys was going to do cost me one thousand three hundred Gil.

Why the hell is this all so expensive? Maybe it was just because I was an outsider. Who knows? But by the time the guy passed me the blade I was fifteen minutes late. Red looked around, making sure Cloud wasn't leaving and passing us. It took us five minutes to get back to the inn where a very annoyed Cloud awaited.

"You're late and we're running behind." Cloud started walking- irritated- away. We followed, me abashed, Red not. As we walked, we heard people talking.

"Listen to me!" One man shouted. "Just now, some guy in a black cloak walked east towards that grassy field." He took a breath, looking at awe and smelled of fear. "And he's got this killer sword and is _real_ scary looking…"

I tense slightly and I know Cloud hears the man and is thinking about his words. Then of course, there's the strange guy who comes up and tries to hustle us. Cloud just thinks he's being a pest but I can see his hands quivering and his eyes darting, looking for valuables. After he found he couldn't distract us, he wished us a good trip and left. I watched him rip off a couple of some of their valuables, but soon we were engulfed in the crowd and I was unable to say anything.

People talked about Shinra as we left, but one thing caught my attention the most.

"I heard President Shinra was killed. And his son, Rufus, the new president, was badly hurt." After that, I stopped paying attention, though people kept stopping Cloud to talk to him and he was slowly getting aggravated. We went into the items store and Cloud bought us all bangles and some for the others when we saw them if they didn't already have some.

I forked over money and bought a tent, about eighteen potions, eight hi-potions and ten phoenix downs. I quickly found out that all the Gil I had gotten from those manhole things didn't last me long. I was left, at the end, with only two hundred and twenty-two Gil. Nine-thousand Gil gone in one day! I dreaded finding out how we were going to pay for a hotel room. That alone was scaring the crap out of me. I don't know how the outside world works, but I do know money is everything.

That's what they were doing in the labs right? Finding new ways to make money?

We left there and went to the materia shop where I gave the rest of my Gil to Cloud so he could buy more materia. It turns out we still had one thousand left after he bought Red a water materia and himself a fire materia.

"Here," He tossed a golden ball at me and I barely caught it.

"Um, thanks… what is it?"

"Steal Materia." He shrugged. "I don't want it." And he promptly left to the weapon store where he upgraded his sword and sold his old one along with his old bangle. I shrugged and slid it into the slot in my boot, leaving me quite a few slots for materia later.

"Let's get out of here." Cloud said, pushing his way past a woman who had just entered the store. I apologized, hiked up the backpack and followed him out, Red bounding behind me. It didn't really last long. As soon as we were out of the town, everyone's stomachs decided it was time to eat. Violently decided it was time to eat. I think I almost threw up whatever was still in my stomach, if anything more then acid, Cloud's stomach just rumbled and Red started lagging a bit behind. Unlike me, Red needed food everyday like every other creature. But the lab decided to starve him.

Just like me. So I sat down in the grass, the other two near me, and started dishing out food. I made Cloud a sandwich of peanut butter and banana with an apple and water. I gave Red some meat, gaining a look from Cloud.

"You get meat next." He just nodded and started eating. I gave Red his meat and set the water bottle, open, by him. It was funny watching him figure out how to drink from it.

For myself, I got an apple, a sandwich of tuna. Water is a duh. We all ate in silence, what could we say to each other? I had no idea what was going on to be honest. I had only one reason to be following them and that was to kill Sephiroth. I didn't know where these guys were coming from. Not where they were born, but what started them on this mission.

Why where they in the Shinra building? Where they part of Avalanche? What was Avalanche? If they were in that group, why where they bombing things? What where their motives?

I knew nothing about these people. A sudden want for my parents gripped me. It was so hard I almost dropped my food and left, running to where I was being pulled.

As it was, Cloud and Red were looking at me as I started to rise. I just made it look like I was moving my legs and they continued eating. I wasn't hungry anymore but I forced myself to finish all the food and most of the water. Cloud finished his apple and part of his sandwich but all of his water. I handed him my water bottle and he chugged part of it to get the sticky peanut butter out of his throat.

He nodded his thanks and finished the sandwich and my water. I took the bottle back and watched as Red spilled his water into his mouth by holding the container with his teeth and tipping his head back. It was funny, really. He was trying so hard not to spill any. He finished the water and dropped the bottle, panting for breath and then the funniest thing of all happened.

He burped. Now, it's unusual for a cat to burp. Not saying they don't, but it's rare. I burst into giggles and Cloud just stared, his lips twitching slightly. Not much, but I could see. Red looked embarrassed.

"Excuse me."

"Y-your excused." I choked out. He gave me a glare with his one eye

"Sorry…" I wasn't, seriously. It turns out it was a bad idea to eat in the middle of a field of nothing. You know all those monsters that are out there? Yeah, they smell food too. They also get hungry too. You know those things that look like turtles? Well, we were suddenly facing seven. I quickly put all the food remains in the backpack, including water bottles. I grabbed Masumi only to be attacked and have it shoot out of my hands. Three of them were facing me, two facing Red and two facing Cloud. Why did I always get most of these things? Well, seeing as I had the food, the things tried to attack me.

What do you know? I'm important suddenly! Cloud blocked one attacker, Red one, and the other five all pounced on me.

Well, they tried, I'm just too fast. While the other two weren't looking, I zipped out of the way so they all bashed heads and picked up my katana. Cloud used a thunder materia blast and ripped away the one he was fighting and turned to the other five. Red, however, was having trouble as the both of them kept on dodging the other's attack. I would have paid more attention but the five were after me again.

I ran at them, startling them and stole an ether from them all and turned around. I took a breath and spewed out a ball of fire from my mouth, burning my mouth only to have my body's natural protection remove the burns in a moment. I took two of the things out, the Gil was only a little singed and the potions they were holding were black with ash, but otherwise fine. Cloud took out one with another thunder and used a fire on a different one. Red, having finally beaten his original opponent came to help.

So, it was what? Two on three? Way too easy. Apparently, the things were starving because they just kept fighting to the last shred of skin. We plundered the corpses and took everything. I checked my backpack. Fine. My wrist didn't even hurt now either.

We got over a thousand Gil and our potions just kept getting bigger. Speaking of them, Cloud downed three and Red two. Cloud also took one of my stolen ethers, decided that was enough for now and started walking.

Frustrated for no reason, I walked behind him, Red by his side.

"I guess you weren't lying." I blinked in surprise and looked at Cloud.

"What?"

"You really did swallow a fire materia, didn't you?" I laugh.

"Yeah," I nod.

"How did you even get hold of one?" I got suddenly serious.

"My brother was good at getting others to give him things and he decided he wanted to know what materia was. He got some and the scientists came in and in surprise he shoved the fire one down my throat before they could take the rest away."

Red laughed, shaking his head and Cloud chuckled.

"You let him?"

"It went like this- _Oh shit!_ Stuff the materia down older twin's throat, ignore her gagging and try to hide the rest of the materia while older twin is trying to get the materia out of her throat only to swallow it and yell _Jerino! What the hell?_ And stuffs an earth materia down his throat. He can't fart anymore- it causes earthquakes." I grinned as Red laughed more and Cloud smiled, his own way of laughing, I guess.

So far, it was a pretty good day. I got new clothes, food and know my secret will be safe. Could all this really last?

Can anyone guess who the red head was? A cookie if you can Forgive me if my prices for the items are not right. My PS2 hates me and doesn't want to let me play the game. The last little thing Scura said to the guys, was basically like a conversation recitle with me. I had to throw a bit of myself in there! Scura's showing more of her personality, but none of her features yet. Anyone have a guess why she's so angry at Sephiroth?

Review if you will, I'll be really happy.


	3. A Glimps Into the Past

Hello everyone. I'm really sorry I haven't updated in such a long time... I really do feel bad. A lot of stuff happened over the summer that made me lose my will to write. Me and my best friend got in an argument (We only just were able to make up two weeks before school), I screwed my ancle up at my uncles, my boyfriend broke up with me. So yeah... I'm sorry. I also have been working on my real books, ones a wish to publish. Wish me luck?

Also, thank you, my dear beta, spopococ!! I really did like the editing you did. I've posted exactly what you edited, lets see how high the difficulty is between telling our writing styles appart?

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

Unfortunately, while the day was good, the night was bad

Unfortunately, while the day was good, the night was bad. First, the tent that we had gotten was too small for the three of us, so only two could be in at a time. It was uncomfortable for two reasons. First was when it was mine and Cloud's turn to go to sleep, we had to sleep somewhat crushed together. Originally, we had slept head to foot, but after ten minutes of fake gagging at the smell of the other's feet, we switched so it was head to head.

Since we were about the same height, although I was a little taller, it was hard to get comfortable. I ended up sleeping in a ball with my head on his stomach. I woke up a few times before it was my turn for watch. This is the second reason. Well, reasons I guess. The first time I woke was because Cloud was squirming slightly to get comfortable. The second was because Cloud was staring at me; I guess he was trying to figure out once more what I was trying to hide. The third time was because he was asleep. He _snored_. Loud. I grumbled quietly and fell back asleep.

When it was my turn for watch though, there was no real need for me to do anything. I just sat there watching the stars with my shoes off and pants rolled up. It was nice and quiet, and I almost fell asleep. Somehow though, I managed to force myself to stay awake. I wandered around away from the fire a lot so the cool air would keep me awake, but would go back to throw a few twigs and other burnable materials onto the fire. Overall, it was pretty uneventful.

Okay, I take the uneventful thing back. I saw one of those weird lizards I decided to call Grassbacks and went to go sneak up on it. It was really small- smaller then the man-sized ones I was used to- and it was adorable! Its wide, red eyes stared at me in wonder when I sat in front of it. It looked like it wanted to run but it's leg was tangled in some roots. I cooed at it and reached out, untangling it and picking it up. It was the size of a puppy with a purple tongue. The tongue flicked out at me and it squirmed, but when I started rubbing between it's eyes…

It was as sweet as a kitten. The little baby curled against me and I smiled.

"Hey baby…" It made a whine sound and I almost melted. I always wanted a pet, really. But every time I had even a pet spider, Hojo killed it, so I eventually stopped for the sake of the lives of my 'pets'. I wasn't going to let anyone get rid of this one. No way in the world!

"Wanna be my pet?" I smiled, as it watched me, head tilting.

"I do believe I'll take that as a yes!" I nuzzled its nose and it nuzzled back.

"I think I'll name you…" I drew a blank for a moment. What could I name the silly thing? I didn't notice for a moment that he was gone. I looked around frantically when I realized that he had disappeared, before sighing sadly and walking back to the fire to throw more twigs on. I stopped however, as my eyes focused on a rustling noise by the flames.

My boot was moving...

Instantly, I was peering into the quivering thing, only to have the baby grassback's head poke out, look at me, then dive back in. I laughed quietly and fed the fire before sitting down by my boots.

"Alright, gimme back my boots..." I reached in and grabbed him around the middle. He squirmed a bit, clinging to the stinky boot.

"You know, I think I'll name you Boots..." I said as I hugged him. The newly named Boots clung to my shirt and blinked up at me.  
"Who are you talking to?" Cloud grumbled, walking out of the tent. I quickly put Boots back into his namesake.

"I'm talking to myself, Cloud." I told him. I knew he wouldn't approve of my new pet. I'd ask him tomorrow after I put food in front of him. Maybe that would put him in a better mood.

"Well," He yawned, "It's my turn for watch- I can't sleep anymore." I picked up my boots and walked into the tent.

"Night, Cloud."

"Night..." He grumbled. I set the boots down and attempted to get the wriggling Grassback into my hand.

"What _is_ that?" Red's hushed voice made me jump. I looked at him with an unseen innocent expression.

"What is what?"

He stood, careful of his tail, and stuck his nose into my boot. He pulled back with a snort, Boots clinging to his nostrils.

"This," He replied, looking annoyed.

"Oh... um... my pet... Boots..."

"Boots." He looked down his muzzle at the little lizard that was staring at him. With a sigh he laid down, pointing his nose at me. I obediently took my pet and laid down by the large cat. "We'll talk in the morning, Scura..."

I nodded and picked up my boot, setting Boots inside it. He whined happily and curled into sleep. I closed my eyes and with some difficulty, managed to drift off also.

_"Well, well, well, what have we here?" I cringed away from the voice but a hand on my shoulder twirled me around. "Another pet?"_

_"Leave her alone..." My brother growled, pushing Hojo's hand away from me. I hid behind my younger brother, clutching my little bird to my chest. My brother had made him for me from the feathers in my pillow a few days ago. I hadn't heard him approach so I couldn't hide the sweet little thing. It whistled in confusion._

_"Back off, boy." Hojo pushed my brother aside and snatched the bird from me. "I told you that these were bad influences on you." I began to cry, begging him not to hurt my bird. "You are a monster. You are supposed to _kill._" As he spoke, he squeezed tightly, choking the life from my pet. I cried loudly, trying to kick him. He dropped the dead animal to the ground and stepped on it before slapping me. "You do not cry, understand?" He slapped me again when I continued. Soon my brother pulled me away from the harsh treatment, only to be beaten himself. I screamed and cried but each time I did, Hojo hit him harder until I forced myself to stop._

_"Good," He cackled and walked out, the blood from my brother's body and my pet's on his shoes._

I jerked awake with a gasp and held my head. The sun was beginning to poke through the tent and I sighed. Red groaned and looked at me, almost glaring. It appeared that I'd woken him up.

"Sorry, Red..." I said quietly as I stood. He snorted and got onto his paws.

"It's fine." He sighed and pushed his tail between his legs as he walked out of the tent. Just as I was getting ready to reach into my boot, I heard a crash.

"What the hell is that?!" Cloud shouted. I ran out to see him trying to squish a moving bit of grass, only to realise that it was far from that. I jumped and snatched Boots before any harm could come of him.

"Cloud! It's my pet, Boots." Suddenly, I was nervous. He glared at the little thing.

"It's a fiend..." He snapped, "Get rid of it."

"Can't I keep him? Please Cloud?" I begged. I think my voice affected him slightly.

"No," He attempted to seethe.

"But he won't hurt anything! I promise I'll keep an eye on him. Please Cloud?" I begged. It took a full half hour to convince Cloud that me keeping Boots was a good idea. I began cooking just to make him happy.

"You're taking care of it. I'm not helping." Cloud said dryly, a bit huffy at the fact that he had lost.

"I know, Cloud." I said, Boots resting on my head since my boots were now on my feet.

"It's not getting any of our food- you'll have to get it something else to eat."

Now that stumped me... What did Grassbacks eat?

"I know, Cloud..." I repeated, handing him some cooked meat- something I had been saving- and he seemed happy. I gave Red his piece and as for myself, I ate some peanut butter on bread. Boots snuffled at the food but didn't eat anything that we had. I was a little confused and set my pet down. He wandered around, looking at some of the things we had, then a butterfly flew by. The butterfly disappeared as a long purple tongue wrapped around it. I grinned at my pet- he ate insects! He crunched down on the helpless bug and Cloud looked a little disgusted.

Well… you win some, you lose some. Personally, as long as he came back, he could eat whatever he wanted.

"Well, that takes care of what he'll eat..." Red said, laying by the dead fire. I nodded and stood up just as Cloud did.

"Time to take the tent down!" We said at the same time. Cloud gave me a look and turned to do just that. I snorted, brushing off the glare to help him. Boots sat on top of Red's head as they watched us carefully disassemble the tent.

"Will you be careful?!" Cloud snapped.

"You're the one who tripped!" I hissed back, and he snorted.

"Yeah right!"

This time I purposely knocked a pole into his side. He glared at me but tried to continue. He did, however, jab me right back in the stomach.

"Hey! You ass!" I snapped. Cloud was about to say something, probably how he was not an ass and how I was just an immature little girl, but Red interrupted him.

"Just fight after you put the tent away- you both could use some sparring practice..." We looked at each other and debated the thought.

"I guess he's right."

"Especially in your case, Cloud..." I added, whacking him in the chest with a pole as we finished.

"Hurry up and finish." He retorted, working faster just so we could fight. In return, I finished my half just after he did.

"Over there, if you'd please?" Red looked at us pointedly, Boots sitting on his head. I couldn't help but giggle at the sight as I walked to the spot away from where Red was comfortably laying. Before I really realized we started, Cloud had reached behind him, grabbed the hilt of his sword and swung down at me like he meant to take of my head. I jerked Masume out of her sheath and blocked just in time, pushing him off. He smirked at me and I glared.

"Cheap shot, Cloud- can't you win any other way?" I teased.

He frowned this time and took an offensive stance. I mimicked him, but chose a different pose. We glared at each other for a moment, before we both rushed each other at the same time. You know those dramatic times when two enemies face off with each other in a death match? It seems Cloud must have though I was an enemy, because he put his _all_ into that jab.

I was, of course, stabbed right in the rib. He twisted the blade and I heard my ribs crack apart. I gasped sharply, coughing as blood fell from my side.

"Ass!" I forced his blade out of my body, leaving a gaping wound that was already healing with a green glow. I slashed at him, only to have him block it, shoving me back. I tried really hard to ignore the wound, but it was a difficult task as it was still healing, my blood oozing down my side. Cloud took a brief second to look at the damage he'd caused, but I struck, cutting him neatly on his cheek. We continued this dance for a while, slash, block, dodge- I tried for minimal damage knowing he wouldn't be able to heal as quickly as me, and he tried for as much as he could. We only ended up with a few more cuts and bruises so far, as both Red and Boots used us as a means of entertainment. It was pretty fun, I had to admit, but I would honestly appreciate it if they would find something else to stare at- it was more than a little distracting.

I was in the middle of a thrust when Cloud jumped back and put his sword on his back. Thinking he was finished for this round, I went to sheath my own blade.

"Thunder!" He cried, sending a wave of magic at me that sent me to the ground in surprise. I got up just a heartbeat later, snarling.

"That was cheap!" I shouted at him, shaking myself out of all electric shock. He just snickered. It was then that my attention was brought to a loud laugh.. That loud laugh was coming from none other than Red. I glared at him but he just continued laughing. I finished sheathing Masume and picked up Boots as he scrambled over to me. He licked the wound I received into my shoulder and I sighed, looking at him.

"You make it hard to be mad at anyone..." I told him, placing a finger on the crown of his grassy head. Cloud appeared easily amused with the situation, presumably because he had won. I huffily grabbed my pack, only to stumble right on top of it as Boots slithered around my feet. I felt the glass of my hair dye break under my weight and cringed as I felt the food squish. I pulled the bag open as hurriedly as I could and grabbed all the food out, so the dye wouldn't have much of a chance to get at it. We were lucky- it just got the bread and nothing else.

"What the hell was that?" Cloud demanded, pulling my bag out of my hands to examine it. He dumped out the broken glass and the mask, watching the contents fall as he did so. He stooped and picked up the mask, before frowned at me.

"Again with the hiding your face thing..." He looked at it, before looking closer. "It's damaged."

"What?" I jumped up, taking it as he brushed the rest of the glass out of my bag so that the food could be put in it again. The mask was indeed damaged- a crack down the middle and the left eye-hole that would break at the slightest thing.

"Shit, man…" I tossed it to the ground and stomped on it, reminding myself horribly of the dream. I drew back and saw the body of a bird instead of plastic for a moment, before my sanity regained and it was plastic once more. My head spun with the mental imagery as I turned around, falling to my knees and vomitting. Cloud jumped back in apparent disgust.

"What's wrong?" Red asked, nosing my side in concern. I wiped my mouth and saw small traces of blood on my fingers. I looked away, backing up as far as I could.

"It's nothing..." I said quietly. Red saw the blood and frowned, opening his mouth to ask.

"It's _nothing_ Red..." I growled at him. Caught off guard by this reaction, both Red and Cloud gave me odd looks.

"Calm down," Cloud said, his voice turning cold, "and tell us what's wrong..."

I swallowed, for once afraid of Cloud.

"I've done this since I was twelve. Something the lab did." I told him, looking up. His hand had been resting by his sword. It was like he was waiting for me to lose it... like he thought I was going to go insane or something...

He didn't know how close he was to the truth.

"Listen, we should get moving." I stated, pushing myself up and taking Boots from Red's head. I grabbed my pack, not paying attention as to if it was dry yet or not, and shoved the food inside. I knew they were discussing something in whispers as I walked ahead of them. If I really wanted to know what was going on, I could have listened closer, but instead, I tuned them out.

I knew what was wrong. I knew that I was becoming ill, dangerous even, but I didn't want them to know. I didn't want them to know I had a ninety percent chance of not living. That would be a fun conversation.

_"Uh, yeah guys, see... Thing is because of some crazy shit at the lab and you know, my parents spawning a half-breed like me... I'm totally gunna die real soon. No worries though!"_

Yeah, that'll go over real well. With a sigh, I stared ahead, listening to their footfalls and the environment around me. Boots hissed slightly, catching me off guard.

"What is it, boy?" I asked, taking him off my head. He slithered out of my arms and onto my back. I heard a rustling that was definetly not the boys, and went for my katana. Only a moment later, three Grassbacks and a prowler appeared. Boots hid his face under my hair and I couldn't blame him for acting strangely. He knew I'd kill the other Grassbacks, and it must have unsettled him. With a sigh, I rushed the prowler, hoping to prolong fighting the Grassbacks. Cloud and Red attacked the Grassbacks instead, who in turn, gave chase.

It only took a few hits before the prowler was down. Resigned, I turned to fight the last remaining Grassback. Boots started crying and yowling, and the Grassback hesitated, looking at the young one on my shoulder. It cautiously stepped closer, tongue flicking out, then turned around and fled. My pet was easily rested and cuddled my head. I smiled softly.

"Glad I didn't have to fight it..." I murmured, as my hand reached up and into my hood to stroke his head. Come to think of it, how I knew it was a he, I have no idea...

I helped Red and Cloud gather the fallen items and we kept walking, sometimes running, but always moving. The only exceptions to this were when we were eating or taking a bathroom break. It was quiet, but it was nice. We didn't have to fight anymore fiends, but we did resort to fighting each other.

"Scura, cook..." Cloud commanded, as he started putting up the tent. I glared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Cook." He repeated, as he looked at me.

"How about _you_ cook?"

He raised an eyebrow at this, and from the corner of my eyes I could see Red lying down. Most probably, he was preparing himself for a long fight. I huffed irritably.

"Because- I'm the leader and I'm setting up the tent..." Cloud retorted.

"You can still cook- I'll set up the tent." I prompted, starting to stand. "Or can't you cook?"

He turned away, but I could smell the blood rising to his cheeks. I grinned to myself, as always.

"You _can't_ cook, can you Cloud?"

"I never said that!"

"How do you survive, Cloudy?" I teased, as he glared at me darkly, and I'll admit that I was almost afraid. Seriously… Men shouldn't be so scary! It was the women who should be scary! He was breaking every rule of nature here!

"Cook. We'll practice after..." He grunted and turned, ignoring my protests to finish putting the tent up. I huffed a little and stood.

"Alright, Boots. It's you and me plant gathering..." I sighed, before looking at Red, "Could you find an edible meat for us?"

He nodded, pleased he could do something and stood nimbly. His tail swished as he walked away, towards the nearest available water, most likely. I went about the same way, but chose to keep my distance. Boots crawled all over me, but I didn't mind. I actually thought it was a little funny.

"Boots? Can you find roots?" He blinked at me, then crawled down and started digging. I smiled and started looking for plants that I could use to cook with. I found some wild berries close to a tree and picked them, piling them into my backpack, which I had gladly brought with me. Boots came back with a large root looking something like ginger in his mouth, almost tripping over his own head to bring it. I giggled and took it from his mouth.

"Thank you!" I laughed, as he squeaked at my praise and started sniffing for more. I followed him close to the water and moved some of the muck around. Inside, I found some onions and some asparagus, though I left the latter of the two behind, gagging from the horrid thoughts of that plant. We found some nuts and Boots found some potatoes, but that was about all. Still, it was good enough, and I added it to the pile. I started to wonder as to how such a wide variety of vegetables were found in such a small area as I started walking back. Usually you would only find that kind of range in man-made crops...

"Oomph!" I cried as I fell over something, too lost in my thoughts to pay attention to where I was walking. I turned, checking Boots who was standing on top of a fallen piece of wood. Curious, I shooed him aside. It was part of a broken fence. It looked charred by fire, however, and I shivered before looking around. Being a lot more cautious now, I could see more sections of the broken down fence and even bones that appeared to be from livestock of some sort. I quickly picked up the pace and went back to where I could see the tent.

"You're back quick..." Cloud muttered, finishing putting the tent up on his own. I set the items in the bag down carefully, and nodded distractedly.

"I'll be back soon- gunna go take a look around..." I ignored his puzzlement at my hurried attitude and started looking around as I walked, my pet following me closely, as if I really was his mother. I found what I was looking for not far off from the campsite. It was a burned section of the meadow, a little larger than the size of an average house. Not far off was an old shed, still standing, though the condition of it was to be frowned upon. The metal holding it together had rusted quite severely, and its condition was nothing short of poor. Hesitantly, I started poking through what was left. It had obviously been a farm of some sort once upon a time, which explained the abundance of vegetables that I'd stumbled across by the stream.

_Leave…_ I heard a whisper suddenly in my ears. I jerked around, looking wildly.

_Leave us…_

I panicked -like any animal would- and took flight as fast as my legs could carry me. I was nearly panting with fear and exhaustion when I reached Cloud. He was skinning the fat rabbits that Red managed to kill, and I had the strangest feeling that something was there... something was watching me…

I really didn't _like_ what was going on, but what could I do? I couldn't see anything... Of course, the fact that Red was not even looking at me -more off to the side than anything else- had me totally comforted.

_Totally_.

"What's on the menu?" Cloud asked, holding up the ready to cook rabbits. I sat down and started a fire, thinking.

"I found some stuff that I suppose I can make shish kebabs with?" I offered, already pulling out the onions and potatoes.

Cloud nodded, content with that. So I began preparing the meal to the best of my limited abilities. There were no spices for me to use, so I just had to settle with the cooking. First I went down to the river and rinsed the potatoes off, then the onions, before coming back and setting them atop of my bag. Then I went to the first tree I could find and broke off long, sturdy branches to cook with. As soon as I got back, Cloud roughly thrust the pile of uncooked meat at me. The smell of that alone had me swallowing mouthfuls of drool. With a little prompting, Cloud helped me by cutting up the onions with a small pocket knife he carried with him.

Before too long, chunks of meat were cooking with potato cuts and onion slices. On the side, just for Red, I was cooking a whole rabbit that had sadly wandered into camp by accident. With the food cooking, I stood up, stretching and grabbed my katana. Cloud was already swinging his sword impatiently, waiting for me. I smiled delightedly. Oh yes... this would be fun. A fight was exactly what I could use.

Cloud got into his stance and waited for me eagerly. I placed a hand on my dearest Masume and drew as he went to attack. It was a hard block- I had to grip the blade tightly to keep it from escaping me. Cloud drew his blade back and I sprung, always careful of my hood, spinning the blade at his face. He moved his head aside and knocked me in the back with the dull part of the blade. I cried out in pain and landed, rolling onto the ground. I jumped away quickly, still holding the blade I was given, as Cloud's blade burrowed into the ground where I had been only moments before. I flicked my wrist and caught him in the side with the back of my blade.

We weren't fighting to the death, after all. Cloud snapped his blade down to the top of my head, leaving me only seconds to block. Cloud and I continued the dance gracefully, and I could not help but notice that he was almost beautiful when fighting. Despite all this though, he didn't appear to be entirely focused on what we were doing either. With a cry, he feined a strike at my stomach, but lifted the blade instead, so that I was caught off guard with a gust of wind. My hands scrabbled, and I barely managed to catch my hood in time. In the end, he had won... the sharp blade of his sword pressed against my neck.

"You need to lose the hood..." He said flatly, putting the blade at rest, "You're always concentrated on keeping it up."

In his eyes was a clear distrust that I knew was associated with the hood and all the other secrets he knew I was keeping. I sighed in defeat and glanced at Red. He was watching the food for us. It looked done by now, so I used that as an excuse.

"Food's ready, Cloud!" I said cheerfully. He grunted, knowing my plan but letting it slide.

"Alright, I'm starving."

I sheathed Masume, walking swiftly to get some food. Up close, I realized that Boots was keeping himself warm by leaning into Red's side. The cat kept glancing at him, bemused, but said nothing about it as he watched us approaching.

"It wasn't bad." He said quietly. I grinned sheepishly.

"But Cloud's right about the hood..." He muttered so only I could hear. The grin slipped off my face, replaced by a frown.

"Gee, thanks." I flopped down, my butt landing on the ground with a dull thud. Cloud sat more gracefully, giving me a smug look, which I promptly ignored in favor of food. As soon as both Cloud and I had had our share, Red turned to his meat, pulling it off of its stick carefully and began to eat. We were silent except for the occasional hiss from taking a bite that was too hot, or the pounding of a chest to get food down. Of course, I forgot to fill up the water bottles, and I knew it was going to be my chore now.

The food wasn't too bad, actually... The onion gave it a bit of a kick, the potato was plain but good, but the meat wasn't all the way cooked through. From the look of it though, both Cloud and I enjoyed it. Boots had slid up onto my shoulder during the meal and sniffed curiously at the meat, before turning his nose away in apparent disgust. I suppressed a giggle, before Cloud made small coughing noises and rattled his water bottle in my direction.With a resigned sigh at my awaiting task, I stood again, collecting the bottles, and tried to follow my nose to the stream once more. It wasn't that horribly far off if I kept going the way I was, but…

There it was again... The burned down farm had appeared, right in front of my path. Boots slunk from my shoulders and began sniffing around. My eyes settled again on the bones littering the ground, and an uneasy feeling crept over me. They must have been small cattle... I shuddered in fear and determined that I would have to hurry away from the area. I had only managed to make it a few yards more however, when I heard the screech.

Without thinking, I ran after it, back to the heart of the charred bones. Under some recently fallen debris was Boots, still screaming and crying. I shushed him and knelt down, placing a hand upon his head to reassure him and keep him steady. My pet's tail was locked under a bit of wood that I had to move carefully. As soon as it was off, he zipped up my arm and clung to me, his tail hanging limp, the grass crushed pathetically. I went to drop the wood back to the ground and paused, as my eyes caught something round.

As my heart pounded, I knelt down to brush the black of the object. It was a small glass bowl, colored darkly, and obviously used for cookery of some sort. Letting out a sigh of relief, I pressed my hand to my heart, the other hand dropping the wood carefully. Everything about this place was just... unsettling... I placed my other hand to Boots' head and slid it to his tail as he let out a small whine. Any injury, large or small, was healed as I worked. It wasn't as severe a wound as I first thought it was, but he was glad for it all the same. I walked away from the area once more, and felt at peace once again. Content, I walked to the river and started filling up the water bottles after testing the water. It was spring water, thus, perfectly fine in my book.

I didn't pay attention to anything else as I filled them up, trusting that Boots would be on the lookout for anything strange. As I finished filling all the bottles, he hissed. With a jerk, I dropped the bottles to the ground as my hand dropped to my katana.

But... There was nothing there...

Boots kept quivering however, hissing at something that presumably only he could see. I was hesitant, perhaps scared, because I could feel it now... This raw feeling of electricity. I scooped up the water bottles into my arms, only remembering their existence when I accidentally kicked one a little. As soon as they were in my bag, I picked up my pet and was running as fast as I could, but the cold, electric feeling didn't leave until I passed the farm. I slowed to a stop, trembling from the fear, but composed myself.

_Nothing there, stupid. You were scared over nothing. Nothing, got it?_ Even though I ridiculed myself, I knew that there had been something there. Something that I could feel was still poking at my spine... Trying so hard to make me squirm, to hurt me...

"Thanks," Cloud said, oblivious to my distress and I handed him a water bottle. He drank with greed for a moment, but I wasn't paying much attention. No, I was looking at Red, who was watching over my shoulder with sharp, narrowed eyes.

"Red...?" I asked slowly.

"We need to leave, first thing in the morning." He growled. Cloud looked at him, surprise and confusion dancing in his eyes. "This place is not safe."

"There haven't been any fiends in a long while..." Cloud said doubtfully.

"I know why." I spoke quietly. He waited, folding his arms.

"There's an old farm, it's burned down now, but…"

"Ghosts?" He snorted. He shook his head and stood, patting off his pants. "I'm going to bed. Scura, you can watch first."

With that, he disappeared into the tent. Red sighed and moved himself into a standing position. As he walked past me, Boots clambered onto his head. He didn't seem phased by the action now, although I'd only had Boots for a day. They both went into the tent and left me alone with the dying fire. Before it could go out, I stood up and went to get some wood. There were a few trees nearby, so I tore off large limbs with my bare hands like they were twigs. There was some kind of satisfaction in that, and I wished that I could show that smug blonde so and so the kind of strength I had... I tossed them over my shoulder and started walking back with my burden. It wasn't long before I made it to the camp and dropped the wood by the fire, breaking it quietly to throw into the flames.

As soon as the fire was burning brightly again, I tossed off my hood and took my fingers, running them through my snarled hair. The hair was thick with mats and snares, but I worked on it for a while until it was tidy and smooth enough to be considered decent.

Of course by now I was looking for any way to amuse myself, so I picked up my blade and curled my hair around my hand. I slid the sharp side across the locks so that it cut raggedly, but well enough, close to my upper back.

With a smile, I tossed the hair into the fire, letting it burn. The smell was horrible and only a few moments later, I could hear grunts of disgust from the tent. I put the cloak back on just in case, but as the smell died off, so did the sleepy complaints.

_"Help me!"_ That same whispered voice cried in my ears. I jerked in surprise and looked up, but there wasn't anything there.

_"Please, save me!"_ I turned towards the farm suspiciously. Only minutes later, Cloud was out of the tent, his blade at ready.

"What's going on?" He demanded, groggy but ready. Red came out after, his tail once more tucked between his legs.

"It's coming from the ruins." I coughed, after the words came out. He glared at me.

"Those 'ghosts' again, huh?"

"Do not doubt her, Cloud." Red said calmly, "We should at least check it out."

"N-"

_"__**Help me!"**_ The cry was desperate, voice far off and doubled. Cloud jerked and looked to were we were looking.

"Alright," He rushed, quickly changing his mind. We all started running to where I had seen the remains of the barn. We were there after about ten minutes. Cloud was a little winded, but Red and I were fine. What caught me off guard was that the barn was shimmering, but _standing._  
"I thought you said it was burned?" Cloud accused skeptically.

"It was..." I retored, as Boots hissed in unison with a growl from Red. What I had thought was a barn was actually a home and barn, both connected. From the top floor, a little girl was slamming her hands against her window. She was a pretty little girl with curled blonde hair. She was in a night dress, cradling a porcelain doll in her hands, before shadows moved behind her and a gunshot went off. The girl fell against the glass with a bloodcurdling scream. Without thought, Cloud ran inside.

"Cloud!" I cried. "Don't-"

But he was already inside. Red and I looked at each other, before following him inside. While we were running up the stairs, we heard another shot go off, shortly followed by another. I turned to go see, but Cloud hissed at me to follow, so I continued. Upstairs, the girl was holding a wound in her side, tears falling down her face.

_"Mommy… daddy…"_ She sobbed, as Cloud knelt by her.

"Hey…" He said softly and reached out to her.

_"Who are you?"_ Her eyes were wide in fear as she saw Cloud beside her.

"I'm Cloud..."

She glanced behind him and saw us watching her. We heard a shout from downstairs and my ears flicked towards the sound. Something was burning. I ran downstairs, leaving the others to themselves, and went into the living room. There were two bodies, and one man on fire. He was screaming whilst another tried to beat the fire out. The burning man grabbed some drapes and they burned up along with him. The man who was trying to beat the fire out saw and left the man to die, running upstairs.

"Get out! The house is burning!" I screamed, as I ran up the stairs. Cloud picked the girl up as she wailed about her parents. Red ran down the stairs after me, Cloud following with the little girl. The door was blocked with fire already, the house steadily being consumed. I rammed at the door with my shoulder. Already weak from the fire, it gave easily. My feline friend ran through with Boots still clinging to his head. Cloud barely made it out before the house started collapsing.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the man jump from the roof like he was holding something, and ran. I looked at the little girl in Cloud's arms. Her eyes were closed like she was tired.

_"Thank you…"_ She whimpered, _"Cloud, thank you…"_

She began to slowly fade, along with the image of the flame engulfed house.

"Who are you?" He asked quietly, running his hand over her forehead.

_"Tina Ruthe."_ She murmured. Her small hand gripped her necklace, the other still holding onto that doll. She tugged and the chain gave way. She pressed it into Clouds hands.

"_Thank you…" _she smiled, before her eyes went wide. _"My sister…!"_

"She was carried out..." I reassured, realizing what the bundle in the running man's arms had been. A teenage woman. "Who was she?"

_"Rachael,"_ She smiled, glad her sister survived, before closing her eyes. Moments later, she erupted into green sparks, disappearing into the planet.

"She's returned to the life stream." Red voiced in awe, "She was waiting, just for something to change... so she could be at peace."

"No… I think she wanted to know… that her sister lived..." I said.

Cloud held onto the silver pendant that had been pressed into his hand, and flicked it open. Inside was a picture of the girl and presumably her elder sister, both smiling and hugging each other. His face contorted slightly, seemingly pained, before he closed it once more and placed it in his pocket. Silently, he retreated back to the site to sleep. We followed shortly after.

In the morning, we packed up and returned to the ruins. We unearthed the bones from the ashes, grimfully aware that they were not those of cattle, and laid them out on the ground. The last one we found was the skeleton of a small child... By that afternoon, they had been buried safely in the ground.

* * *

Thanks for reading, everyone!! Please review and I promise I'll update soon. I know it was a bit confusing and you're probably wondering what the big deal is but you'll find out how important Rachael is later. You don't get to meet her, but she _is_ importaint. Well, I will see you all soon!


	4. Stupid Chocoboy

Well hello again! I admit there's really no excuse for me to have taken so horribly long with this next chapter. Except maybe the fact that my damn playstation won't play the game and someone broke disc two a year ago- still irritates me- so I'm sorry. I _have_ been writing in real stories off and on but nothing big as of yet. Once more, many thanks to my beta spopococ.

Read and enjoy!

SSSSSS

* * *

Silence, complete silence. Though lightning flashed not too far off, the thunder had not yet reached us. I moved stealthily, squirming brown bundle in my arms, and the green, grass covered lizard on my shoulder nestled between skin and cloth. I glance down to the bundle, then up to the tent. Behind me, one fire burns high, and another simply simmers, existing on oxygen alone for food. I unzip the tent as quietly as I can and slip inside. I can feel a tongue lash at my neck and I glare at the lizard, before setting the bundle in my arms upon the tent's occupant and dashing out, zipping the entrance up quickly. Giggling, I moved and sat by Red near the fire. Only moments later, the storm reared its ugly head at us and bellowed. Cloud woke with a cry as the rabbit took off around the tent, tripping him a few times before he managed to clamber through the exit.

"Scura!" He snarled, seeing my form bent over from laughter, "I'm gunna-!"

Before I could learn what he was going to do to me, the wind howled and thunder snarled again. Instead of finishing what he had been about to say, he entered the tent again to get his Buster blade. He tossed me my katana before I could ask, and, as the rabbit took off, he closed the flap and started tearing the tent down. I went over to help him, hooking the blade to my belt. Things were quiet for now between us, though the lightning and thunder still boomed and flashed behind us. It was looking to be a rather fierce storm, and it had been brewing steadily for the last few hours or so. The wind was a bit of a hindrance in disassembling the tent, but there wasn't much use in complaining, especially since my prank had seemingly put Cloud in a bad mood.

All things considered, it didn't take too long before we were done. The tent was smaller then it looked and would easily compact into my backpack. I went over and picked up the last of the cooked meat from near the fire and offered it to Cloud, a small gesture of peace, who tore into it hungrily.

"Let's go..." He grumbled between bites, tossing me the tent as he continued gnawing at the rabbit on the slightly charred stick. I caught it and tucked it into the backpack. I wondered briefly how we were able to get all of the stuff into the backpack, but truthfully, I didn't really care. I was just a little bit curious. We walked in silence except for the storm, which continued to hover around us.

At least, until Cloud threw the now rabbit-less stick at my head.

"Hey! What was that for?" I demanded. "I'm covered in Cloud germs!"

He gave me a smug look and continued on like nothing happened. Pouting, I followed him away from the storm.

"Where are we going?" I asked, and he was quiet for a moment.  
"A chocobo ranch."

I stopped moving briefly, eyes wide as he glared at me, daring me to say anything. As far as I could see though, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

"You're going home?" I teased, dancing out of the way as he sent a thunder attack in my direction, "Maybe you can let me meet one of your fluffy siblings."

Yet another attack came, but it was dodged.

"Scura…" He said lowly, and realizing I really was pushing it a little too much, for now I let it drop. I'd wait until he'd gotten over the whole rabbit thing...

It was rather hot out today, despite the rainclouds continuing to threaten us, and I was getting really bored. So, deciding to amuse myself, I put Boots on Red's head, jumped on Cloud's back, and stole his sword. He swore at me and started chasing me down as I struggled not to trip over the ridiculously long weapon. After about five minutes of running, the sword finally _did_ trip me, and I landed head first into the dirt. Cloud took his blade back, glaring nastily at me and walked ahead. I propped myself up from the ground, staring at him with wide eyes.

"How do you fight with that? Or carry it for that matter!"

He gave me another of his smug smiles.

"Well, I guess I'm just good at it." Mr. Vague… How I hate thee. With a sigh, I dragged myself up and followed the boys. Cloud looked at me a few times before I finally blew up.

"What is it?!" I snapped.

"Your face… I could swear I know it from somewhere."

My eyes widened as I touched my hood. Without realizing it, I'd let my face hang out.

"The mako eyes- a lot of SOLDIER's had them, and you said they injected you?" Cloud asked. I nodded hesitantly.

"That's only to be expected." He shrugged, unable to figure it out.

I tugged my hood right down quickly. I hoped he hadn't realized it too soon…

Not too much later, we saw the chocobo ranch and hurried forward to get there before dark. As we approached, the chocobos came closer to us, although it was clear they were only really interested in Cloud. Chocoboy himself folded his arms and glared at them. One chocobo bravely leaned his neck over and poked our dear blonde in the head. He reached up and smacked the offending bird square in the beak, effectively sending Red and I into roaring laughter. He sent us a glare but we didn't really notice, nor would we have cared.

The chocobos began to dance behind him and we stopped and watched as one kicked a materia to him. Cloud caught the summon materia and looked at it in disdain, then sent it to me. With a shrug, I put it into one of my materia slots. Cloud wandered into the main part of the house and we followed. I ignored the conversation Cloud and the old man had for the most part, but when he mentioned snakes, I got interested. The males left the house to go to the stables and I looked at the old man.

"The Midgar zolom is really that big?" I asked him. He nodded furiously.

"Strong too. No one's been able to defeat it, so they just try to run away from it now. But there was another person heading towards the marshes. Without a chocobo, the Midgar Zolom probably got him. It was a man in a black cape."

"Scura!" Cloud hollered.

"Gotta go, thank you for telling me." I bowed my head to him and ran to Cloud and Red.

"Give Red the summon, you get this one." He tossed me a chocobo lure. I gave him a look but did as instructed. We started walking.

"You know, I was talking to the old man… Sephiroth went into the marshes," I said casually. Cloud looked at me, then to the marshes where the man we hunted had gone. He was about to speak, but a chocobo appeared with two Grassbacks. Cloud tossed some greens in and attacked the Grassback nearest to him. Red was already fighting his, which left me with the chocobo. Right…

As the two were fighting, I approached the dumb beast that was seemingly concerned only with its food.

Can't I just eat the stupid thing? Seriously, I could probably carry Cloud on my back and be faster then it. But, oh well. With a sigh, I stroked its beak and hurriedly jumped onto its back. At that moment, however, it finished its greens.

"Clou-ou-ou_-oud!_" I screamed loudly as the damn thing started bucking and trying to get me off. I clenched my legs tightly around its body and held its neck like my life depended on it.

Which, you know, it probably did.

"He-elp me!"

Cloud gave me a look and quickly gathered his winnings. With a single jump, he landed on the chocobo's back and it calmed down, looking at him. I tried to glare but I turned my head to the side, blood shooting from my mouth. He gave me a concerned look as I mopped it up with my sleeve.

"I hate you." I told him simply. With that, he grinned at me cheekily.

"I know," He said flatly, turning to look at Red, "Can you keep up?"

With an indignant snort, probably because Cloud thought the chocobo was faster, Red took off to the marshes.

Chuckling, Cloud reached around me to hold onto the chocobo neck feathers, pressing his torso firmly against mine. It felt kind of weird, honestly. I was about to make a comment but held my tongue. There was no way to move away from him and I could feel each of his muscles in his chest, stomach, and arms, which was quite distracting to the hormonal teenage body of mine. I closed my eyes to keep things simple. The still howling wind was bothering my eyes and dazed eyes would undoubtedly inflate Cloud's already enormous ego.

"Is something wrong?" Cloud's mouth was right in my ear and I jumped, making him smirk.

"Just thinking!" I snapped, face red as blood. We saw the form of the zolom approach from under the murky water and the chocobo sped up without prompting. Red was still far ahead of us as the thing reared its head. I turned my own and spat fire at it, making it turn hissing and slithering away.

"Nice shot." Again with his mouth by my ear!

"Thanks…" I mumbled, still blushing.

We got to the other side, to dry land, and Cloud got off. Immediately, the chocobo started bucking, warking and trying to get me off. I screamed loudly, clinging to the bird. Next thing I knew, Cloud had taken my arm and tugged me into his chest, cradling me there as the chocobo ran away. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to break from my chest.

"I hate birds… I _hate_ birds… I hate _chocobos_!"

I groaned and buried my face into his chest. He laughed at my expense.

"Come look!" We heard the fire-cat call. I moved away from Cloud and followed the voice, as he did. We both were stunned at what we saw.

"Did Sephiroth… do this?" Cloud asked, voice betraying slight awe.

"It appears Sephiroth is stronger then we thought."

Ahead of us, a zolom, bigger then the one we saw, had been impaled, blood still dripping from its body.

"Lets go." I said, walking. I didn't care to look at it. I didn't care to see the devastation one man could cause. They glanced at me but followed me inside. I was feeling slightly dizzy and I knew what was going to happen eventually. It always did happen…

"Just a second!" A deep voice called. The three of us looked up and there was a bald black man that I instantly knew.

"Rude…" I muttered. He glanced at me.

"Do you know who I am?" The question was directed at me, but Cloud answered.

"From the Turks, right?" Rude's gaze flicked to him.

"Well, if you already know, this won't take long. It's difficult to explain what Turks do…"

"Kidnapping, right?" Cloud is so talkative all of a sudden. I wonder why? Then again, it was one of those things that I didn't _really_ care about... I then coughed out a bit of blood, making the three look at me.

"To put it negatively, you could say that…" Rude dragged his eyes then, away from me to Cloud. "But that's not all that there is to it anymore."

He went silent, looking around, then down. I snickered, but my snickering was interrupted by a female voice, one I didn't know. I rest my hand on my blade, ready to attack in a heartbeat.

"It's alright Rude! I know you don't like speeches, so don't force it!" He looked so relieved that he didn't have to speak more then necessary.

"Then Elena, explain."

I finally spotted her, standing above us, looking proud as punch.

"I'm the newest member of the Turks, Elena. Thanks to what you did to Reno, we're shot of people..." She hesitated, and my ear twitched. _What you did to Reno..?_ I wondered what she meant. I went tense, glancing back at my teammates. They didn't either understand or notice my look.

"Though I did get promoted to the Turks… In any case, our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed and try to stop you every step of the way." She turned, fidgeting and scratching the back of her head, "Wait a minute, it's the other way around. You're the ones that are getting in our way."

I heard footsteps and I knew by the way Red turned, he did too.

"Elena, you talk too much..." A deep tone remarked, and I perked up, recognizing the voice. The elder Turk had been my friend once…

"Mr. Tseng!?" Elena gasped. He gazed indifferently at her, his hand on his gun. He looked at us and his gaze became curious as he saw me.

"No need to tell them about our orders."

"Sorry… Tseng…" She muttered. I was growing restless, knuckles white from gripping my katana.

"I thought I gave you other orders. Now go. Don't forget to file your report." As the words left Tseng's mouth, the stupid blonde had a dawning of realization creep along her face.

"Oh! Right! Very well, Rude and I will go after Sephiroth, who's heading for Junon Harbor!" She was fidgeting as she spoke, and my lips were twitching.

"Elena, you don't seem to understand." He spoke like he was talking to a child. So I guess what they say about blondes is true.

"Oh! I'm- I'm sorry…"

Tseng sighed, cross.

"Go, don't let Sephiroth get away." With that, the two other Turks saluted.

"Yessir!" They replied in unison, before Elena carefully started climbing down, and Rude jumped to the ledge with Tseng. Rude looked at us.

"Reno said he wanted to see you after the injuries you gave him healed. He wants to show his affection for you all… with a new weapon." He then followed the bubbly blonde, as Tseng's gaze followed them out.

"Well then…" He said quietly, his gaze turning to me. I lifted my face and he was now able to clearly see me. His lips twitched.

"So nice to see you, you know we have orders to return you…" He continued, amusement licking at his tone. Red growled and Cloud had a hand on his blade.

"But they can wait. Just stay away from us." He turned then and left. I rolled my eyes and looked at my party members.

"You guys go ahead, I have some business to take care of."

"Scura, we shouldn't leave you-"

"I'm serious." I said a little more firmly, and Cloud nodded, looking at Red. My cat friend sighed.

"Take care," He said. I nodded, tossing my bag, full of food and gil to them. Cloud caught it and with a final look, they started exploring the caves, turning their backs on me and disappearing into the blackness. I ran and jumped with ease onto the ledge, chasing after the Turks in the hope that I could catch them. I see the one up ahead that I really want to see, but he's getting close to the outside, faster then I want him to.

I pick up my pace and call, "Tseng!" The man looks at me.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away?" He asked, turning to face me, a critical gaze in his features.

"Didn't you ever read the reports on me? I don't listen..." I shrugged, and his face broke into a grin.

"I personally know this fact."

I threw back my hood, uncaring that my features were now open to the world. He'd seen me many times, taken me to my cell and to the lab, so the hood no longer mattered. He then seemed to realize something, as surprise flittered through his eyes.

"You're speaking," He observed, "This is new..."

"I know I am."

He stepped forward then and took my chin in his hand, tilting it towards him. He examined my face and I stood there, still as stone. He brushed my black bangs away from my eyes and frowned.

"You're paler then you used to be and your lips… have you been vomiting blood again?" I nodded as he withdrew his hand.

"Tseng… I need to ask you a favor," I breathed, as he once again looked at me critically, "But before you say anything, think about it. Do you want to have a creature running around killing innocent people, knowing you can't kill it? Or do you want to stop it?"

He laughed lightly at this, and allowed the rare smile to linger for a few moments.

"Indeed, having you run around like that would probably cause yet another scare… You need those pills, don't you?" Another nod from me. "Then come with me. There's a station not far off that has the medication in a liquid-"

He faltered then, as he saw me glare. He let out a soft sigh before explaining, "It would be easier to inject them, if you are going through a particularly violent fit."

I continued to glare, then dropped it with a defeated "You're right…"

"Come on now..." He purred and started leading me to the outside. There were two helicopters, one getting ready to take off with the other two Turks inside. Just before I reached the chopper door however, I hesitated. Never trust a Turk when they're supposed to get you…

"Something wrong?" He asked, hanging from the chopper.

"You know, on second thought… I'll just follow you from the ground." I tried to sound uncaring. He chuckled, though his eyes flashed.

"Don't be silly. This is faster..." He replied swiftly, impatience in his tone. Seeing that I wouldn't budge however, Tseng whipped out a gun from just under the seat and aimed it at me. It was tranquilizer, from his face I could tell. That and the hope that he really wouldn't mean to hurt me. He was probably expecting me to run into the tunnel as I ran backwards, but in a last second decision, I jumped to the side as he fired. _Now_ I ran into the tunnel as he loaded, but I forgot the other two were there waiting. The woman from before was aiming for me and fired, hitting me in the arm. I hissed in pain and jerked it out before it could do too much damage, but it was already starting to take effect. Quickly I pulled my hood back up over my face and moved my feet fast, jumping from the ledge to the cave Cloud and Red had disappeared into. I ran and ran, aware that far behind me, Tseng was cursing freely.

After about five minutes, although I wasn't really sure as I was getting very sluggish, I managed to spot Cloud up ahead.

"Cloud! Red!" I cried.

They turned, just as I collapsed. I couldn't move, though I continued my attempts to struggle against the tranquilizer's effects. They rushed over, concern furrowing across both their brows.

"What happened?" Red demanded.

"Tranq…" I murmured sleepily. Cloud frowned and listened, though he couldn't hear anything.

"Put her on my back..." The feline said and I watched as my pet stuck his head up from behind Red's.

"I'll carry her." Cloud said and picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder. I didn't even have the strength to protest. Not that I wanted to, except for the fact that my bum was in his face.

Real attractive.

He started off then, and by that time, I couldn't even move my arms. What was that, zolom tranquilizer?! I know I can become a big creature, but please… I'm not going to need all that.

The next thing I knew, Boots had his face in mine and was inspecting me with what I probably imagined to be concern. I hadn't even felt him climbing onto me. I made a half hearted effort to tell him to get off, but my lips simply wouldn't co-operate, and I'd only managed to produce a slurred groan. Instead of taking the hint like I'd hoped he would, he crawled under my hood and took a nap in my hair. He stayed there for a fair amount of time, nuzzling occasionally against the back of my neck and making small squeaks in his sleep. Sure enough, it wasn't too long after that before some creatures attacked us. Because I wasn't facing them however, I didn't know what they were or how difficult the battle had been, only that Red and Cloud took care of them with materia. Cloud knelt next to the remains and looted them quickly so we could leave the place as quickly as possible and I admired the fact that even if he liked to play big hero here and there, he remained cautious. He was still a stupid Chocoboy. Since I could be of no assistance, I took a lesson from Boots and promptly fell asleep. After all, what else could I do in such a sorry state?

SSSS

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Chapter four for you! I'm almost done with five so that _will_ be up soon. I swear. I swear on my Yazoo plushie. Also, here's a poll for you.

I was debating on who Scura should be paired with because I thought you might like a say in it! The ones I'm mainly thinking on are Reno, Cloud and Vincent, though I had a suggestion of Tseng too. Who would you like to see her with? Not limited to those four in the poll. Until next chap, happy holidays!


	5. Not Another Chocobo

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry this took a while. I despise Nortan... it's blocking the log in because of 'New Age'. Anyway, I will get more done and soon, I promise.

* * *

When I was younger, I used to ask why poisons didn't do much to my body for the most part, but tranquilizers did. Hojo explained it perfectly.

_"Poison's harm the body."_ I remember him looking at me like I was an idiot. _"The tranquilizer just puts you to sleep."_ Right after that, to make his point, he jabbed me with a poison the color of blood, that left me retching with pain. I remember Jerino shouting at Hojo as my body fought off the toxin. My darling twin... There wasn't a thing different between our appearances at first glance, or even the seventh. The only differences were our birthmarks, and of course, our numbers. I was roman numeral two, he was three, and our marks were the same, only on the opposite side. Hojo always told us that it was because Jerino stole half my power when our mother was pregnant with us. I always replied that I didn't have any need power, and that never ended well.

It took about three hours for me to wake up after the tranquilizer's effects had finally worn down. It was a half hour before I could twitch a finger after that, and yet another before I could muster the strength to walk. I was glad to be able to stand on my own damn feet again. Cloud seemed all too happy to have my weight off of his arm. I did feel a tad bit useless though. By the time I was up we were already far away from the caves and I realized that the ground was slightly damp, as if the storm had already taken its toll.

Curiousity got the better or me again and I asked Cloud about it.

"It rained briefly while we were walking, but not for too long. The storm didn't really get that far..." He shrugged and that just about ended it. We walked for a few hours in boredom, and in the silence that followed, I found myself noticing a few odd things. Firstly, Red was glancing at me every now and again with a curious look. Secondly, Cloud's head bowed down a few times for about a minute, the strange behaviour ending whilst I heard a metallic _tink._ Could he be looking at the locket that the ghost-girl had given him?

There was nothing much around us for awhile, so we all decided that we could afford to relax a little. Boots was curled around my arm and purring like a kitten. Now I could clearly see Red watching me from the corner of his eye as Cloud walked on ahead. I made sure my hood was well down and hummed to my pet. It didn't take long for Red to actually speak to me though.

"You are ill." He said simply. I shrugged in response and stroked Boots' head. "Why?"

"I have been for about three years." I said honestly, though quietly. Cloud glanced back at us, hearing murmurs, but continued on ahead. "I'm not sure why."

"You keep vomiting blood..." He accused, "I doubt the lab wouldn't have known why."

They didn't, seriously. I've checked before and it always says 'illness unknown', so I simply learned not to bother. It was every other month, so I had a month to prepare myself. Right now, I had a little over two weeks before the _real_ fun started... I'm completely sarcastic if you can't tell...

"Just leave it, Red," I murmured and he gave me a look, but sighed and didn't speak of the subject again.

"What are you two talking about?" Cloud asked finally, unable to hold it.

"How it's so odd that there are no monsters." Cloud blinked back at us and frowned, finding truth in Red's quickly formulated words. Cloud's frowned deepened a little, and his brows furrowed as if lost in thought.

"...Do either of you smell anything?"

At the same time, Red and I lifted our noses into the air.

"No," Red answered.

"Well... I kinda do, but it's kinda far away."

I shrugged and the chocoboy nodded, accepting both the answers as he continued walking. Everything was pretty much silent between us. I let Boots loose to forage around a fallen tree, where he gorged himself on bugs not far off from us. We took the opportunity to eat a snack and take a rest of our own whilst he frollicked amongst the leaves. It wasn't particularly a gourmet meal either... We were slowly running out of supplies and undoubtedly we'd need more soon. No phoenix downs had been used, although the same could't be said for our elixirs and potions, but I was _really_ thinking more about the food. We'd run out of bread, so my immense love of peanut butter was obviously going to waste. The game had slowly disappeared too and so left us without our main protein and meat source. The snack we had right now was hardly anything more than one apple each. Red was quite irritated, particularly at how he had to eat it- from my hand eating around the core. Red and I, being what we were, both reached the mutual agreement that the core was nasty and never went overly too close to it.

After we'd sat for about ten minutes, Boots came back and lay contently on my lap. His comforted nuzzling didn't last too long however, as Cloud decided it was time to move on. I picked the disgruntled Grassback up and put him to my chest, letting him cling to my shirt in an all too familiar fashion. No more than a minute later, a fiend came upon us, and it was a large one at that. Like... almost the size of a manhole, except a little smaller... and...

Why was a fiend riding another fiend?

With a shrug, we got our weapons out, just as it attacked. It aimed for me but I jumped over it, doing a slash down in the process. Surprisingly, though it didn't kill it, I could tell my attack did a lot of damage. I really like upgraded swords... Did I tell you that?

Cloud and Red both cast a spell at the same time. Chocobo's was thunder and Red's was fire. The creature was barely alive, so I managed to slip in a quick move with my steal materia. I managed to snatch a high-potion before Cloud took the final blow and sent the thing back to the planet. Cloud picked up the gil as we walked away, and it once again fell silent for a while. That was until something in the air caught my attention.

"Hey... do you smell... people?" I asked, face scrunched up in confusion. Red lifted his nose into the air.

"I think I do." He nodded and Cloud looked relieved.

"Do we get to sleep in beds tonight?" I asked, rather hopeful, before Cloud actually grinned.

"Yes, we do."

I couldn't help myself from cheering loudly with the joy of the thought.

We quickly picked up the pace and hurried towards where the smell was coming from. Soon we saw a large type of building or something, that had what appeared to be a bird perched upon it. Confused, I looked at the others, who looked no more certain of what they were seeing than I did. We approached a man who seemed to be guarding it, and as we approached, he eyed us. Apparently, he saw no danger from the group, and instead struck up conversation.

"We've been fighting the Shinra for a long time at this battlefield." He said, giving us all a nod. "Even now, we're still settled in for a long war with them. If you aren't in a hurry, would you help us fight them?" After we hesitated, he hurried to continue. "Listen, we don't want to push you but, if you're in the middle of something, why don't you finish that first?"

"We'll help you." Red said before Cloud could get in a word. The cat got a nasty glare as the guard's eyes brightened, blissfully unaware of Cloud's smoldering expression.

"Really!? Then go on up and they'll fill you in on the details." The man grinned, running off, apparently expecting us to follow. He headed towards a rope that was apparently the main access point of the compound and Cloud stuck right behind him. I followed shortly after as Red jumped from rock to rock, and Boots went on ahead. Cloud brushed himself off briefly, before following our guide up the rope and a crudely made ladder . Red did his best to follow and I had to go after to help.

"Hmm... now this is something. I never thought anyone would ever climb up here!" A voice remarked as we emerged through what could be described as the entryway, having struggled up the rope access points. There was a woman sitting at the nearby table, and Cloud took one look at her before approaching the stranger. She looked at his eyes with a small frown.

"Your eyes are different... Well, anyhow... Any minute now, this will be a battlefield against ShinRa." Hearing this, Red and I followed Cloud.

"You'd better get down before you get involved." She warned.

"You mean Shinra?" I asked, brow raised.

"What is Shinra doing here?" Red asked her in polite confusion. She seemed startled that he could speak, but mentioned no word of her surprise.

"It appears you have a problem with Shinra, too. After all, you climbed up here. Why don't you listen to what I have to say for a moment?"

With a sigh, I walked off, rather bored. Cloud and Red stuck around there though, apparently curious. I casually walked around the dirty place, trying to see anything interesting. Nothing really caught my attention, so I headed down another rope ladder, and found myself in what appeared to be a bedroom. Without asking, I laid down and rested, removing my boots. It didn't take very long before I heard Boots climb into the smelly objects I had just removed, and I closed my eyes and rested happily, stretching out across the bed and then some. Not long later though, I heard the sounds of crashing outside, but I didn't move. I don't think at that moment I could have even if I wanted to. I was far too tired to do anything at that moment besides sleep; but it took me awhile to do even that. It wasn't until I heard Red and Cloud come down that I really sleep. I think even they were more tired then I was.

I wanted to ask what they had been doing, but exhaustion resulted in lack of care. Besides, they were both safe, so it couldn't have been overly too much of a concern...

The three of us slept for a long time. I woke first and yawned, stretching out even further then I already was. I let out a low groan of pain however and clutched at my stomach. Dammit! I sniffed hard, and sure enough- blood. I really needed to get cleaned up, and relatively quickly… I plucked my pet from his stinky bed and put the sleepy creature on my shoulder, before sticking my feet into my boots. As I climbed up the ladder, I could hear voices speaking quietly.

"They did really good, surprisingly..."

"I'm glad they helped." The woman from earlier had replied to the first voice. As I appeared, both of our hosts looked up in surprise.

"What time is it?" I asked her curiously, as she casually looked at her watch.

"It's around two. Still the early afternoon."

I nodded uneasily and thanked them, before heading to where I thought the bathroom was. After about ten minutes, I came out and then went down to check the backpack.

When I got there, there were many more potions and another tent. I groaned at that, but then I noticed something rather odd. There was something written on the tent. I peered closer to try and get a better look.

_To shrink and __keep the weight down, please use this spell with the help of an 'all' Materia. To return to normal size, please just set the item where you want it and counter spell it with the words 'grow'._ I glared at that first line and snatched Cloud's All Materia from his sword.

_Heavy poles replaced with feathers, thick canvas replaced with silk. Gentle now, never harsh, this tent shall never more be trouble._ Feeling foolish, I repeated that spell, only to find to my delight, that everything had shrunk to fit perfectly in the backpack. I quickly pulled the other one out and started to do the same, seeing the very same label, but something caught my eye.

_Product and magic copyrighted by Demonia Gardian._ Why did that sound so familiar? I frowned and cast the spell. Demonia... Why was my heart racing at the mention of the name? Why did my body scream to run and find this woman? I didn't know and I was almost scared to find out, but she sounded so familiar...

I replaced Cloud's materia into its slot and picked up the backpack, before leaving them to finish their sleep. I bought bread from the woman and carefully wrapped it. I was glad I didn't have to eat plain peanut butter now. It was like all of my Christmases had come at once.

"Would you like us to fix you something?" She asked.

I had let the cloak drift behind my shoulder, and clearly, she's seen how very skinny I was.

"That would be wonderful!" I grinned in spite of myself. I really appreciated it. I didn't have to cook and I could eat _real _food...

She sat me down and came back only minutes later with a bowl of stew. I greedily started swallowing it and letting it scorch my throat. There really did not seem enough time in the world for letting it cool when it smelt so damn _good_. The woman smiled, apparently glad to see me eating.

"They were canned, I could sell you some..." She remarked.

I looked up and I knew my eyes were almost twinkling with the happiness.

"I will buy nine and three bowls." I stated it simply and she laughed, before disappearing. She returned shortly after with the requested items, complete with spoons. I pulled out my gil and handed her what I figured was fair and some for the other things. With a pat to my head, she walked off, leaving two other bowls for my companions as well.

Throwing the items into the bag, I left it there, trusting these people, before whistling down to my two friends, my head peering down the hole. I heard one groan and a snort down there, before hearing a whine from my shoulder. I stroked Boots' head and walked off. It took them three minutes to get up and about three seconds flat to see the food left for them. I think Cloud literally drank it, whilst Red was as polite as always and took his time. Fed and rested, we packed the bowls into the backpack and made our way out of the fort. It was a bit difficult going down because you could slip easier going down then you could when you were going up. Especially if you happened to be a feline…

Finally reaching the bottom, we stretched under the sun and took a moment to adjust to the light.

"Here," Cloud said flatly, handing me a thunder and a water materia. I put one into the last slot of my left boot with the steal materia, and the other with the chocobo lure in my right. Now I had four slots left to fill in my sword. I was already thinking a good 'all' materia would be a nice investment... It really added to the damage you caused!

"Thanks Cloud!" I figured he would have gone to the materia seller up towards the top. Cloud merely nodded.

"I was given an earth Materia." Red said from behind us. I smiled at him.

"Sounds just like you."

He gave me a grin and walked along side us.

"It's a five day walk to Junon without stopping for anything, even fights." Red mused. "So it will take us six days."

I nodded uneasily as Boots popped out from my hood. That was _just_ cutting it close... Silently, we continued on our walk away from the fort in the general direction of Junon harbor, me stroking my dear pet as we went... Things were once again quiet for the most part, and not to mention rather boring… I even voiced that last thought to Cloud.

"This really sucks. Can we please take a break? I wanna spar." I complained, sounding like a whiney child... as much as my stupid adult voice could let me... I damn my race, damn them to-

Wait… let me take that back. I _bless_ my race. I _bless_ them into oblivion.

Yeah, that's better.

"No, it'll get dark soon and we have to keep going as long as there's enough daylight to see by." Mr. Logical himself replied. I started to complain again, but chose to keep my mouth shut. After all, he was right. I wanted to get to Junon as fast as I could.

"Look!" our feline friend remarked, as Cloud and I hurried to see what Red had found.

Chocobo tracks...

"Yay," I murmured, "Dinner."

Cloud grinned at me cockily.

"Don't you want to ride one again?"

"You can go die, Cloud." I hissed and hurried ahead, ignoring the laughter that was coming from behind me. Gaia? Can I _please_ kill them?

Apparently the divine forces hated me, because I stumbled through some of the tall grass then and there, before coming face to face with a flock of sleeping, wild chocobos.

I'll take that as a no, Gaia...

Of course I tried to move back without them taking notice of me, but that would have been too kind. Instead, the biggest one woke to the sound of the moving grass, blinked a sleepy eye, then gave a loud, shrill wark.

The other five woke up in a frenzy, leaving me to turn tail and run back towards Cloud. I didn't realize how far away I was from my friends, but as I ran through the grass, they seemed a long way away.

"_Cloud! Save me!_" I screeched, hearing the large chocobo thunder closely behind me. Cloud looked over to me, saw the chocobo chasing close behind, and almost bust a gut laughing. Red, who had heard what was happening with his super cat hearing, was holding back snickers until I could get into his vocal range. It was that point that he chose to crack up.

I had to dodge the attack of the furious chocobo twice before I got to Cloud, in tears. I ducked behind him and he sent a mild electric attack at the bird. Now the bird, feeling as startled as I was, ran away, warking at the top of its horrid lungs. I was shaking and gripping the back of Cloud's shirt, but felt a little reassurance in the thought that somewhere he must have some form of heart.

I figured that anyway, because he stopped laughing and looked back at me, my face burrowed into his back, before turning and pulling me into his arms.

"You're not scared of having the Zolom raise it's head to you, but a chocobo scares you this much?" He asked quietly and I couldn't quite tell if he was mocking me or really curious. I sniffled as Boots climbed to my neck and started to nuzzle me in his own form of reassurance.

"It's a big, yellow bird that wants to chase me down and stomp me into oblivion. Yes, I'm scared of them." Not to mention I'd always had bad experiences with the damnable things…

"It was just trying to get you away from it's flock..." he remarked and I wasn't sure if he was really trying to assure me or if he was mocking me. Red coughed behind us and I moved away from Cloud's grasp.

"Whatever, Cloud." I murmured and cringed as he walked towards the flock, tugging greens out of his pocket. Horrified, I started backing up and away from the chocobo herd. It didn't really matter _what _I did though, because Cloud came back riding on the large chocobo. It glared at me and Red laughed at my expense.

"I hate you," I said in horror and turned to ran away, hiding Boots in my hair. Cloud, seeing fun in this, chased me down on the chocobo.

_Big birds are bad, big birds are bad, big birds are-_

"Holy shit!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. And why not? Cloud had just swooped an arm down around my armpits and tossed me onto the chocobo's back in front of him.

"You can go die!" I screeched as he made a sharp turn to get us back to Red.

"Maybe later," He grinned. I gripped onto my hood to keep it in place and to hope Boots hadn't fallen out yet… Thankfully, he was still on my neck, whimpering with as much fear as I think I was trying to choke back on. Once we had reached Red again, Cloud helped me straighten out, much to their amusement.

I hate men.

Since the chocobo was so wide, it meant that we had to get closer to it's neck to be able to hold on. It also meant that Cloud had to press harder against me to get his legs anywhere near a safe place to hold onto the chocobo. That was really uncomfortable… happy thoughts? In the different pretense?

With a cough, we took off, Red racing at our side. It took a while for me to concentrate on something else, but thankfully I _could_ think of other things, like…

Why the hell was the name Demonia so familiar to me?! There was absolutely no reason for me to recognize such a weird name- though that would be the pot calling the kettle black. While I tried to remember why I knew the name, I was also barely conscious of the noises around me- the warks of the chocobo, the sound of Cloud's breathing and his heart, even Red's breathing a few metres ahead of us. Finally, the sounds distracted me fully from my thoughts, without me even coming close to any answers. Closing my eyes, I just listened to the things moving around me. Hell, riding the chocobo didn't even seem so bad right now. I snuggled back into Cloud's chest tiredly, knowing that by the sound of his blood speeding up, he was surprised and a little bit happy with the turn out. I guess he though that since I had this voice- sweet and flirty- that I had to be pretty, no matter what had happened to me. I tugged my hood down over my face a bit more and just as I was about to fall asleep…

A loud, shrill wark jerked me out of it as the chocobo bucked Cloud and I off in a heap. Screaming loudly, I flew into the ground, my cloak going up and flapping in front of my face. Which probably was a good thing- since Cloud landed directly on me in a not-so-nice way. As I groaned in pain, Red gave a laugh, then turned his attention to an enemy I couldn't see. Cloud, having a much nicer landing then me, jumped up to go help as Boots took off for cover. It took me a second to start sitting up (after all, I had just had a guy with a heavy ass sword land on me) but the chocobo was having none of that.

None. At. All.

The chocobo took that moment to run over me, warking in fear. Its clawed feet slammed into my stomach whilst its bony knee slammed into the side of my face.

Unfortunately, the gods that obviously _hated_ me, decided that the chocobo should use me for its dancing grounds. Well, at least that was what I figured, since it just kept running in circles, hitting me each time. Let me tell you, this certainly did not help my fea- uh... hatred, sorry... _Hatred_ of chocobos. Yeah. It took a few minutes for Cloud, finished fighting whatever the hell it was, to calm the chocobo. By that time, I was bruised, bleeding so much the cloak was drenched and damn near hysterical. As soon as I was free of the crazy bird, I hugged Cloud. I mean, I hurt myself hugging the guy, that's how grateful I was.

"Are you okay?" But even as he asked me that, I allowed my body to start the healing process, which tired me out pretty well.

"I will be... Thank you Cloud." I cried, clutching his shirt as I tugged the cloak away from my face so I could at least see- though still not be seen. The pain and the healing of my body left me drained, and I slumped against him.

"Scura?" Was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

When I woke up again, Cloud had me curled against him as the sun was setting and the fire crackled, devouring it's wooden food greedily. My eyes were only part open as I watched, slightly at awe with the scene, the fire looking like it had melded with the sun for just a few moments. That was, until the sun disappeared across the horizon, leaving the fire as the only source of light for now.

"Cloud?" The sound of my voice must have startled him, since he jerked and looked down at me; I could feel it from how his body moved. Let me tell you, I was getting very accustomed to Cloud's body, and I had _very_ mixed emotions about it.

So much for not wanting a boyfriend, eh?

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." There was silence, then-

"You're welcome, Scura."

"Now that you're awake, Scura..." Now I was surprised by Red's voice. How had I forgotten him? I looked over at where his voice was coming from, only to see him seated comfortably on a bed of leaves. "Would you be so kind as to tell us how to un-shrink the tents?"

As he finished speaking, Boots poked out from Red's mane.

"That would help." Cloud chuckled, before helping me up so I could get them. Irritated at Red since I was comfortable with Cloud, I huffily resized the tents and left Cloud to set them up, excusing myself by saying I needed to go wash up.

Somehow, I believe his laughter meant he agreed that I needed to.

Stupid Choco-boy.

With a sigh, I started shifting through the trees. Now, our camp was just on the edge of the forest, so the cover was good enough for me to want to take a bath. I was just getting undressed when I heard the ruffling. I jerked my hood over my face again and looked around.

"Hello?"

I frowned at the unfamiliar voice. It was a woman, but not one of my global teammates. A second later, the owner walked out from the brush to show herself. She was a teenager, just like me, only she had dark brown hair, and the prettiest black eyes I'd ever seen.

"Hi…" I said hesitantly.

"Oh, there is someone here!" She grinned cheerfully. "Hi, I'm Mezu."

"Scura…"

She walked over, a long, gem-covered staff slung over her shoulders. A raven rested on one side.

"Very nice to meet you!" Now that she was closer and the bushes weren't covering her, I looked at her clothing with surprise. She was wearing a high-necked vest that was half unzipped, showing what appeared to be a birthmark in resemblance to a butterfly on her bust. Her pants were leather and she had on a pair of simple white shoes. She looked pretty... odd... though.

"Do you need something?" I asked, slightly hesitant in speaking to such an eccentric looking figure.

"Oh, yes! My friend and I were arguing over which way the ocean was." She looked at the bird perched on her shoulder then. "Right, Isdalor?"

I thought it was a bit odd that her friend was the bird… Though I'm one to talk. I know what cats are thinking usually…

That was mostly through body language though.

"Well, actually, the direction that you came from is where the ocean is..." I remarked.

The girl frowned and looked at the bird.

"Yes, yes. I know you were right. No need to be so cocky about it!" I raised a brow at the seemingly crazy girl and shook my head.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, I'm okay now." She smiled and turned right around again. "Thank you. My employer would have been furious if I had gotten lost again!" She started picking through the forest to get out again.

"Your employer?" I called.

"Mmhmm!"

Obviously, I was getting no more out of her. I sat by the water, my head cocked so my ear was in her direction and listened to her make her way through. After just a little while, I couldn't hear her anymore. Fearful of any more interruptions, I hurriedly stripped the bloody clothes off, leaving just my undergarments, and got into the water. Somewhat captivated, I watched as the blood that was on my lower half flooded away along with any remnants of mako, turning the water crimson and neon green as it went. I touched the water with my finger tips, then leaned against a nearby rock in the river, letting the rest of the blood flow off my body. The cold water made my body shudder after a while and I wrapped my arms around myself, submerging myself so only my nose poked up from the water. Lately, I couldn't help but be amazed by the strangest things, such as how my hair moved around with the current. Hyper-awareness, I think Hojo called it? Something like that.

That or I just had ADHD. Hell, maybe it was just the boredom. I sighed, letting the bubbles pop in my face before I really got started on cleaning myself up. My hair easily took the longest. While I had cut it to a more manageable length, I hadn't really washed or brushed it ever. I had to submerge my head under the water to brush it out with my fingers again.

The next annoying task was washing the blood from my clothes. There was even more blood in them then there was on my body. I used the rock to rub the blood out and as soon as that was done, I used the rock to haul myself out of the river. I tossed the wet clothes over some branches to let them dry a little.

After ten minutes, I figured they would start to worry, so I hurriedly dressed in the freezing and wet clothes before running back to the camp. I didn't want them to get pissed at me for being gone so long.

"I'm back!" I called. Cloud looked up from where he was tending to get again cooking rabbits.

"What in Shiva's name-" He blinked stupidly up at me, just realizing that my clothes were wet. I blushed and moved my cloak from my back to around me again.

"I _am_ a girl Cloud." I frowned and walked huffily away from him. The last thing I heard from him was something along the lines of 'I know'. I can't decide if that's creepy or flattering.

Somehow though, I think it's flattering.

* * *

Thank you to my friends, my beta and my friend Amy, who had to post the chapter for me. Also, the poll is still going... who should Scura end up with?


	6. A Little Darkside

Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long to update. Norton still won't let me log in, unfortunately. Thanks to my Spopococ beta ^_~ And special thanks to Shadow! She uploaded it for me since compy killed me. You guys still know you can pick who Scura is with, right?

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Have you ever had a day that just doesn't wanna go your way?

"Get away from me!" I snarled, my back pressed against a tree. I was surrounded by the creepiest things I had ever seen. They looked like walking voodoo dolls with vines for limbs and faces on their chests.

Quite obviously, I was having one of those days. Earlier I had gotten into a fight with Cloud about my hood again; he thought that it was getting ridiculous- shouldn't I trust them by now? The answer was yes, but... I knew they wouldn't trust _me._ I desperately want to keep these friends, the only ones I knew, and for that I had to do some things I wasn't entirely happy about either.

Not that I could explain _that_ to them...

The annoying thing was, it wasn't just the hood we'd argued about. He had noticed, just like Red, that I was vomiting blood. He's picked up also on the fact that it was happening more frequently, actually. He had brought it up after we had calmed down and I just...

I snapped. I should have been happy he was worried, but I started hollering at him and then ran off. The past few days we had been going back and forth between fighting and making peace, but this time I'd really had no reason to be so mad, or even the slightest bit irritated. So, inevitably, after about ten minutes of angry brooding, I started feeling guilty. As I walked further from the camp, I just tried relaxing and looking around at my general surroundings. I suppose it really was a dumbass thing to do, since I became pretty distracted by a bird with its chicks. It was because of that that I didn't see the damn Voodoo Heads, as I have named them, come after me. Considering I'd paid little to no attention to them (pieces of wood-shit-things...), they'd had the perfect opportunity at really getting a good jump on me.

Screw my attention disorder... Hyper activity... Whatever it is...

A few of them struck out, whipping me with their vines. I reached for my katana, only to come to the conclusion that it wasn't at my side like usual. With that little discovery came the realization that I had left it in my tent when I stormed out of the campsite.

Whoops.

"I'm going to kill you, you damn... voodoo... things!"

I know, I'm terrifying right? Apparently not though, because three more of the twelve shot their arms out and pulled my feet out from underneath me.

"_Ew!_ Don't touch me!" I squirmed, easily breaking their arms as a bug transfered from the Voodoo Head to me. I jerked my hood off and tossed it aside. Boots cried at me from my exposed back, the large insect in his mouth. At least I think that's what was making his voice muffled, and I really hoped that was the case...

I had little time to think on it before the pieces of living wood attacked me again. This was really pissing me off. All I wanted to do was walk peacefully alone with Boots but _**noooo**_, I just _**had**_ to get attacked. I think that the Planet has it out for me. To prove my point and enfuriate me even more, the larger one, probably their leader, snatched my grassback from straight off my back. If I was pissed before, I was going on a murderous rampage now. Before I could do anything, however, I gripped at my eyes as pain shot through my body. This seemed to encourage their little onslaught, because they started whipping at me again. My face and hands started to burn with pain, so much so that I could hardly feel the whippings in comparison. After what seemed like forever, I lowered my hands, blood dripping from my face. It had seemingly been caused by the black claws that had formed rather abruptly onto my fingers. As I stared at myself in wonder, I became vaguely aware of a vine wrapping itself around my wrist. Without a single thought, I jerked my arm back. The Voodoo Head, caught off guard, was pulled right to me. It screamed loudly before I stuck both of my hands into its mouth and tugged them in opposite directions. The wooden fiend died quickly as it was torn in two, though its lifeless body continued to squirm in reflex.

Boots screamed as the fiend that had a hold of him attempted to take a bite. Before the teeth could clamp down on his tail, I pulled Boots away, tucking him into his usual place behind my neck. I slammed my foot through the top of the Voodoo head's head, watching the green blood flood around my foot. Then, as it wasn't dead yet, I bit down and ripped chunks of its body appart.

The creatures screamed and started to run, as a slow, sly grin crept onto my face.

"Voodoo....voodoo..." I crouched low and sprung, landing ontop of one fifteen feet away from me, the farthest of the group. I tore it to chunks quickly with my claws and teeth, my fangs making quick work of it. Simply to make things more horrifying for them, I rose slowly, giving them more time to flee as best as they could. They were truly, truly weak and I was going to have my fun, scaring them before they died. They were too stupid to stray from their group so they always ran in the one direction. I jumped each time, ripping the closest ones to me appart, laughing as I did. Before I was done, I was covered from head to toe in green blood.

I guess it was time for another bath?

Snickering, I walked crouched down, using my fisted hands like paws to get to my cloak. Not bothering to put it on, I tied it around my waist, and was hurriedly caught off guard by Boots' crying. I gently stroked him with my knuckle and looked towards the direction of camp. I crouched down again then began to run, using my hands for extra speed. While it had taken me well over an hour to get to where I had been, it took me ten minutes, bouncing from the ground to trees multiple times, to get to it. I lifted my nose into the air and sniffed. The tents were still up but no one was there. I frowned, but saw Cloud's own sword there. It was that which made me realise they were bound to come back, so I set my pet down and looked at him.

"Stay safe."

I turned and took off again, this time to track a deer trail.

On the way, I stopped to get a drink by a small spring. Without thinking, I lowered my face to the liquid and my tongue flicked out, acting like a cup to get the water. After a few seconds, I drew back in surprise, then looked carefully into the water.

Reflected back at me was a creature whose hair was coated in green slime, eyes glowing the color of blood with a small muzzle.

"What the..." I touched my face and the creature mimicked me.

I flew backward, my back colliding firmly with a nearby tree, horrified. I had never had this happen to me before! I shook lightly, curling into myself as far from the reflection as I could. Before I could do anything else though, the herd of deer came near enough for me to smell. Without thought or any sense of control, I was back onto my feet, getting into a position to attack. I waited in silence, limbs tense, as they drew nearer. I could have sworn I saw a bit of red and even yellow and black not far off, but the deer came into my sight and all further though dissipated. The buck in charge lifted his head cautiously at the smell of a predator, trying to determine how long ago it was since I had been there. He took a hesitant step forward but I ignored him in favour of the does behind him. There were three fat ones to his left, but my path was blocked by five smaller ones. I lunged out, misjudging the distance and landed on the smaller doe. The herd panicked and took off, as I bounced off the startled doe. I let it escape- I didn't want it anyway.

Still crouched down, I followed after the others, trying to sniff out the fattest ones. I turned quickly and jumped, just in time to sink my claws into the back of the smaller of the fat does. The animal started to buck, trying to get me off until I opened my mouth wide and sunk my fangs into its throat and clamped there. Soon, it fell to its side, still bucking wildly as its eyes rolled into the back of its head. Within moments, it was dead. I jerked my head back, meat mixed with fur, and chewed.

"What the hell was that?"

I froze, listening.

"Go back, Cloud." That was Red's voice... they had... seen me? I let out a warning yowl, making both of them go silent a little ways away. Quickly, I grabbed onto the doe's legs and started to run.

_My prize. My meal, my blood. My _kill. Those few words rang through my head over and over as I ran, putting a large distance between my friends and I. As soon as I was sure I was safe, I dropped the deer and licked my bloodstained mouth. A few human thoughts tried to push me away from the dead animal, but they were to no avail.

_This isn't right. I shouldn't be doing this! Cloud and Red might be following me. I should put the cloak on and go wash my clothes again!_

_No. Food here. Food is _mine. _They can't touch it! I eat, I get full, then I go back._ The animal part of me argued. My weak human thoughts argued again, but I can't remember what was said.

I could only think of food.

I tore into the animal's belly and tore off a piece of flesh, taking a very short amount of time to chew before going for the next bit. I ate continuously for a long time, but finally I was getting full, so I slowly stopped and licked my lips. My eyes scoped over what was left of the corpse, before traveling to its ribcage. I hadn't eaten the organs, except for the liver, but now…

I thrust my hand in and pulled the heart out and held it carefully, before I bit into it like it was no more than an apple. No sooner had I taken the bite, my head began to reel. I dropped the heart in favor of gripping my head in pain.

"Scura?"

I looked up, a snarl on my face, only to see Red. The snarl died in favour of me beginning to scream and clutch at my stomach.

"It hurts! It _hurts_ Red!" I cried, my tears washing trails down to my chest. He hurried to my side, looking lost at what to do.

"Scura, I-" He cut off as I bent over, falling to my knees with one hand out to make sure I didn't fall face first into the Earth beneath me. I began to vomit, all three of my stomachs heaving in a chorus of repulsion. My recent meal flooded from my mouth, leaving me little time to breathe before the next onslaught came about. The pain was horrible, coupled with the torture endured by my face and hands, which seemed to be ablaze. A snarled cry escaped my mouth as I continued to vomit. As I finally felt the pressure begin to ease, I fell to my side, looking much like the doe I had recently devoured. I glanced weakly at my hands, finding small relief in seeing normal fingers once more.

"Scura…" Red nudged my shoulder lightly, only to pull back as I coughed, my own blood escaping my mouth. "You're getting worse..."

"I know… I…know…" I managed, looking at him weakly.

"Your eyes are still red."

I blinked stupidly at him as my vision started getting hazy.

"Hey!" His voice got high with worry. "Stay awake, Scura! Scura!"

But I had closed my eyes, letting the world around me dissolve into a black abyss.

I didn't feel anything at all… I didn't even dream this time. I think that was the nicest part about that day.

When I woke up, I was fully clothed in a hot pool of water, the sun starting to sink into the horizon. I rolled my head to the side, in an attempt at looking around. Red was seated nearby, seemingly keeping watch.

"Red?" I croaked, hardly able to speak. His attention moved quickly to me.

"Are you alright?" He demanded. I nodded faintly and he seemed to calm- only a little.

"How long…?"

"Have you been asleep?" He guessed. I nodded. "An hour." He studied me. "Your eyes are green again."

I blinked, and then glanced at the water. Underneath it's surface, my clothes seemed to be clean of all traces of blood.

"Has Cloud-"

"No, he's back at camp." Red sighed and closed his eyes. "You should clean yourself up."

Without being prompted again, I slid under the water, letting my hair rise high above me as I laid against the muddy bottom. I looked up, watching my hair slowly change color. I reached up and rubbed my fingers through, helping remove the color as best as I could, but it seemed as if my hair would keep its green tint.

Great…

Finally, when my lungs were screaming for air, I pushed up with my boots, surfacing with a gasp. I startled Red, who had been standing at the edge, crouched to jump in.

"Don't _do_ that!" He hissed. I could hear his heart pounding and closed my eyes, listening. "Scura?" I opened them again, looking at him curiously. "Can you get out?"

I attempted to rise from the muck, only to slide in further. He bit my shirt and dragged me up, then tried to help me stand. I stumbled like a child, only to catch myself against a tree.

"Hold my shoulder."

Obediently, I leaned against him and we started to walk. We were silent for awhile, neither of us sure what to talk about, or if I could even talk at all. It was Red that eventually broke the silence, however, although I'm not sure if it was an overly good thing.

"We need to tell Cloud-"

"No!" I hissed. "He can't… he'll hate me…!"

Red frowned, but continued.

"Tell him that you're sick and should rest for a day or two." I bit my lip, unsure. "Though it might be wise to tell him exactly what your condition is."

I shook my head.

"He'll think I'm a monster!" I protested.

"You don't want him to be prepared?" He prompted me. I bit my lip once more, feeling guilty.

"Sorry…" I murmured, Red looking somewhat startled at the single word.

"What for?"

"Being a… monster…"

The feline sighed, slightly irritated.

"If you were a monster, I wouldn't be protecting you," He admitted honestly. I didn't say anything. I couldn't think of anything beyond how I had behaved.

"Red… I couldn't… I couldn't control myself…" I hesitated, "If you and Cloud had gotten closer…"

"But we didn't. I still think you should tell him the condition. _I_ don't even know what you are… but I know you have feline blood."

"I can't tell him…"

He sighed then, a simple word of "Fine" escaping his mouth.

We were silent, and I knew that he was not only worried for me, but also for them, his companions. After all, if they didn't know what I was capable of, how could he be sure they were safe?

"I should go back to ShinRa."

He jerked his head around in surprise.

"What?" He demanded. "After how they treated you?"

"They have the only way to keep me under control. I need the injection, Red." I looked pleadingly at him. "I don't want to hurt you two."

He grunted.

"We'll think of something. You shouldn't have to depend on them for anything. Not after how they abused you, abused _us._" He shivered, bad memories clearly resurfacing at the mention of the horrible company. "We're getting closer to camp if you want to put your cloak on…"

I blinked, not even realizing it was off. I shuffled to a stop and hurriedly untied it from my waist- even with my unsteady fingers. I had to slow down to put it on though, because it was wet and didn't want to cooperate.

"Ready?" He asked, once I had tugged my hood over my face.

"Ready…" I replied, using his shoulder once more to lean against. Cloud was poking a fire, his face creased with either confusion or worry. In his lap was Boots, whom he continued to pet slowly.

"Hey, Cloudo," I called, trying to sound cheerful. He jumped up.

"Scura! Red! You've been gone for hours!" He snapped, looking simultaneously pissed and relieved.

"Sorry, I fell asleep," I said sheepishly. Hey, it wasn't a full out lie, so it was easier to believe. He frowned deeply as I felt the baby Grassback climb up my leg.

"Why didn't you come back?" Cloud stomped over irritably and grabbed my wrist tightly in an apparent outlet for the rage he was biting back on rather well. I flinched slightly.

"Because I felt guilty." His gaze didn't change as it latched onto what he could see of my eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped because you noticed I was sick. At all. I'm glad you noticed… I know you care it was just…" I sighed and looked down, unsure of how to put it. "I don't want anyone to see me as weak. I want you to know I'm useful…" I felt his grasp on my wrist slacken. "I'm sorry Cloud…"

"If you snap on me again, I'll have to kick your ass in sparring." He said confidently. I narrowed my eyes playfully.

"We'll have to see about that, Mr. Strife." I tugged my hand out of his grasp and as I started to walk past, I decided to tease him in the worst of ways. I bent my head down and gently kissed his neck, right above his vein. I could feel his body freeze beneath my lips, leaving me grinning satisfactorily.

"Thank you for caring so much, Cloudo." I moved back again, snickering lightly. He was opening and closing his mouth in shock for a few moments, looking dumbfounded. I know- I was watching.

"I'll go and get the rest of the stew cans and cook them." My voice dripped with cheerfulness that most women weren't even able to fake. But, I was actually pretty happy- I'd pulled one over on Cloud. As I turned to walk to the tent, however, the look on his face told me I had just started a new game.

Oh. Shit.

I took my time pulling the cans from my bag and then the bowls and spoons, looking carefully at the surfaces so I could be sure there were no spots or anything nasty on them. As soon as I was satisfied, I sluggishly walked out of the tent- did I mention I had it all to myself?

We decided that the watches, while it made us feel better, left whoever was in charge of watch duty decidedly cranky and complaining of a lack of sleep.

So, the watching was out (not even Cloud could debate the fact after losing sleep as the last lookout.). We just hoped one of us would be alert enough to see, hear, smell, or whatever else, if or when an enemy decided to approach.

"Took you a while…"

I glanced at Cloud, who was once more sitting by the fire. Boots poked his head out from under my cloak, then dove back inside. I honestly hardly noticed where he walked now- I was so used to my little Boots being there!

"Sorry, was making sure you washed everything- unlike last time." I gave him a look, but he smirked.

"What can I say? You wash everything _so_ much better."

"Jackass." I answered simply. The boys snickered at me as I sat down to start making a feeble stove to cook on. It pretty much consisted of two large rocks, and a very thin one on top to place the bowls on. Did I ever tell you how much of a genius Red is?

"I'll do that," Cloud offered, making me glance at him suspiciously. "If you'll go get water."

I growled irritably.

"You know where it is and how to get back, Kitty," he remarked lightly, and I blinked stupidly.

"When the hell did you start calling me Kitty?!" I demanded, shooting up, "And on what basis?!"

"On the basis that you have animal senses and reflexes that match Red's?" Cloud shrugged, and I made an angry yowl.

Okay, not really the best way to win my argument…

"See?" Cloud chuckled in a decidedly smug manner.

"Shut your mouth…" I sighed, and held my hand out for the water bottles. Cloud tossed them to me. "Talk about feeling like a maid."

I turned to walk away, but Cloud made a rather annoying comment. I shall not repeat it for fear of breaking anymore blood veins; just let it be known that he did get a pretty nasty kick to the groin for it.

Score- Cloud: 6 Scura: 4.

So what? He's only ahead two points…

Not that he knows. I can only shudder in fear if he realized that I was keeping track- and that he was ahead. His ego is already big enough, not like he needs the boost or anything!

So, all alone with Boots once more, I started walking in the direction of the river. I almost wanted to put my hood down, let myself relax for just a while, but decided against it.

What if I bumped into someone like that weirdo Mezu chick again?

I looked around and my attention disorder got the best of me once more. I was easily captivated by everything near me, from a falling leaf or feather, to a small insect that was quickly licked up by the eager tongue of Boots.

Man, his tongue was long…

With a chuckle, I continued, smiling wide.

"Boots, you're such a dork…"

My smile was quickly wiped away, blood spontaneously spilling from my mouth, rather then vomit this time. A violent tremor of pain slammed through my body and I fell to the ground, the familiar occurrence of vomiting blood falling across me once again. Boots licked at my neck in worry, then scattered himself around me, trying to find some way to help. It took a few minutes for me to stop, and when I did, there was a large puddle of dark-red blood at my feet.

That was another thing… Did I mention my blood color is actually a few shades darker then a human's? I sighed, wiping the blood from my mouth with my sleeve. It happened far too often, I wasn't really fazed anymore.

_Scura…_ I jerked my head around, looking for the source of the voice. _Scura, my Angelo de Notte …_ I dropped the water bottles, a desperate look on my face.

"M-mommy?" I jerked my head around and in an even more hesitant voice, tried again, "Daddy?"

But the voice didn't come back. I looked around, feeling like a small child once more, waiting for mommy and daddy to finally find me in a game of hide and go seek.

"Mommy? Daddy?" I called the two words a few more times, unable to help myself. I felt so alone now, having heard that voice. I couldn't tell the gender but… It was so familiar. Then I tried one last name in a desperate hope of some response.

"Jerino?" There was a chuckle in the back of my mind.

_Yes, Angelo de Notte?_ I fell to my knees again in surprise.

"Little brother… where are you?"

_I'm where mother is- can you remember?_ I frowned, my head pulsing, until finally-

"Nibelheim… forest?"

_See you soon…_ His voice faded from my mind. I closed my eyes briefly, but only at the prompting of Boots nuzzling my neck, did I open my eyes again.

"My little brother…" I smiled. "Found a way to speak to me again. My twin…" I laughed. "Another Hellfling like me."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading!! You see a bit of Scura's darker more deadly side here. And a bit more of how violent she can be when she's having an attack.

I'm so glad for the single review I got, and the people who added the story to favorites. So far, I have the votes at:  
ScuraxRufus:1  
ScuraxTseng:1  
ScuraxVincent:1  
ScuraxCloud:1  
ScuraxReno:1  
So yeah, everything's all even. W00! I hope to see you next chap! Please review. I update faster with the ego boost.


	7. Cloud heard what!

Hello my dearest readers! I appologize for my very late update. I'm afraid I tried to quickly shove my chapter that I had only just gotten finished onto my beta when she was at such a frazzled time herself! I do hope you adore this chapter as much as my dear Candy did!

* * *

When I finally got back with the filled water bottles, the stew was just getting done, I still had a dazed but happy look on my face as well. That, however, was interrupted as I realized Cloud was not watching the stew, but Red was.

"Red? Where's Cl-" I screamed in surprise, as I felt a pair of muscled arms grip me around my middle and lift me into the air. Within seconds my life in the ShinRa labs flashed through my eyes, everything that I'd gone through, from being lugged forcefully from my holding cell, to being tied down to a lab cot. Before I knew it, Cloud was on his back with me above him, and my hands wrapped around his throat.

"Scura!" He croaked. I jerked back in surprise, releasing him.

"Cloud, are you okay?" I heard Red demand. I looked at my hands, then the reddening marks around Cloud's neck.

"Fine," He obscured my vision of his neck with his own hands, rubbing the harmed flesh with a frown. "What's your problem?" He demanded, standing up.

"Cloud, I'm so sorry… it's just… remembered the labs…"

"That's no reason to attack me!" He snapped.

"I'm sorry," I was miserable looking and I knew it. He could probably tell from my voice. "You grabbed me from behind and I thought of that… I was scared, Cloud."

"You were afraid?" He sounded skeptical at first. "Couldn't you tell it was me?"  
"You took me by surprise- I wasn't paying attention to the smells around me." He was silent for a while.

"Don't do it again..." Cloud sighed, brushing himself off and plucked off a light colored hair from his shirt that seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

"Food's ready." Red tried to pacify him, though I got the idea that I was forgiven already. Or that he'd be keeping an eye on me.

Both of us made our way over to the makeshift stove. Cloud took only his own bowl while I took down Red's and my own. All three of us, however, almost swallowed our bowls whole.  
"Thank you, Cloud." Red and I chimed at the same time. I handed out the water bottles, and they were inhaled just as quickly. I wasn't sure how much longer we'd be staying in this same spot, but before I could ask, Cloud's PHS rang.

"Cloud Strife." He answered without thought. He was quiet, and although I could hear Barrett's voice on the other end, I couldn't make out the words.

"We're in the forest, actually." More silence. "We're near a river, about a half mile from one-" Just then, we heard a shot fired not far off.

"I heard you. I'll see if I can send a signal…" He glanced at me. I sighed and looked at the nearest tree.

"Tell him look for fire." Cloud nodded as I started climbing the tree. I got up high and took a deep breath, then shot the fire out of my mouth, catching the tip of the tree on fire. Thankfully, I had a water materia in my boot. Cloud called up to me so I used the water to quickly extinguish the flame before it got too out of hand, before I started jumping from branch to branch back down. I did, however, land flat on my face as one broke out from underneath me.

"Ouuuch…" I said slowly, dirt in my mouth. Cloud and Red were both cracking up at me.

"They saw- they're on there way." Cloud managed to say between laughter.

"I am going to hurt you." I groaned and pushed myself up.

"Too late." And I immediately felt guilty.

"Cloud…"

"I'm alright," He cut me off.

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking skeptical. He nodded and I looked up to his neck from my spot on the ground. He tried again to search my face, but I quickly tugged the hood down to my small nose- one of the only things about me that was different from my father.

"We should clean up a bit, alright?" I suggested. "So they have enough room to set up camp as well." Cloud nodded and Red just got huffy- he hated not being human at times, he'd told us. Setting up camp was something he couldn't help with. Cloud and I started cleaning up, him moving the stakes in his tent towards mine so there'd be more room. While he wasn't watching, I casually kicked a log away from the area. Hey, sometimes being a monster had its advantages. Not a minute after I had kicked away the larger logs, I heard crashing and Barret's cursing.

"They're here." I laughed to Cloud.

"How can you-" Then he heard a particularly loud curse. "Oh," He started laughing.

I sat down near the fire and a moment later, Cloud sat down by my side so his hand brushed mine as he sat.

I, of course, blushed like there was no tomorrow.

"There you are!" Aerith squeed happily as she saw us, and ran forward as I stood. She jumped to hug me, and I hugged back.

"And there _you_ are!" I laughed happily and spun her, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too!"

Barrett and Tifa were slower into the clearing, but Tifa ran over to Cloud and hugged him the way Aerith had just hugged me.

I, however, managed to stay standing.

The point goes to me, and… I think I'm still one point behind.

Damned Chocoboy.

"There ya are! I couldn't find ya!" A gruff voice remarked, only there was a curse in there too.

"Sorry, Barrett. We tried to make it easy." Red offered. Barrett dropped his pack to the ground, including the large two tents.

"I think we need to stay together from now on." Tifa said confidently. "The ShinRa personnel are far behind us. No one will recognize us." Cloud glanced at her thoughtfully.

"It's also safer." She offered. The blond nodded in agreement.

"Probably. After all…" Cloud paused, as Barret started cursing at Boots climbing from my cloak to his leg, "He can scare anything off."

"I heard that ya spikey haired bastard!" He growled and pulled Boots from him. "What's dis?" The large man demanded.

"That's my pet, Boots." I pulled him out of Barrett's grasp. "He's a baby Grassback."

"A whu?" He scratched the back of his head.

"It's a lizard with grass on its back." It was pretty self explanatory.

"Damn thing looks weird." He grunted.

"But it's so cute!" Tifa made her way over to me and picked Boots up. "How did you get him?" She asked as she stroked his head. The baby cooed and closed its red eyes, enjoying the extra attention. Aerith quickly joined in.

"I found him in some branches, all tangled up. I got him out and he stuck to me." I glanced at Cloud. It was the day after that the ghost girl made her impression on him. He still kept the little locket around his neck, hidden by his clothes.

"That's _so_ cute! You know, the adults look pretty cute too…" Aerith said thoughtfully.

"No!" Barret and Cloud cried in unison.

"No damn fiends trav'lin' wid us!" The larger man snapped, "One is more then enough."

The three of us laughed, but I pretended to get serious.

"Are you mocking Boots? What has he ever done to you?" I tilted my chin up so my lips just barely poked out- I know, I could feel the sun on them. And I could tell Cloud could see too. I gave a ghost of a smirk and tilted my face down again.

"No, Boots is alright," Cloud shrugged like it didn't matter.

"I saw you petting him- no lying," I teased and strolled over to him, letting my hand drag over his chest before I pushed him lightly, "Or I'll have to kick your ass."

The three newcomers stared openly at our display, though Red just looked bored.  
"You can try," He snorted playfully as he straightened back up, "I've come out on top each time we've sparred."

"Maybe I'm learning quicker then you thought." I grinned at him, putting my hands on my hips. He attempted to tower over me, and since I was actually an inch taller, that didn't work too well.

"If you are, then you've not proved it well."

"Alright you two, calm down." Tifa laughed and pushed us apart, though she cast me a look of irritation, which I met with one of surprise- not that she could tell.

"Hey, Cloud, why don't you help me set up the tents?"

Cloud nodded obediently and went over to their packs with Tifa. Aerith quickly found her way over to me.

"I think she's jealous," The other female laughed and patted my shoulder, "I think you and I should go for a walk."

She nudged me and I shrugged.

"Sure, I don't mind." I replied. "Want to-"

"Just you and me."

Somehow, I wasn't really surprised. I figured she'd like to know what was going on- after all, Cloud and I were much better friends then we were when this little journey started. I even decided to leave Boots behind.

"Okay." I nodded and thrust my arms behind my head, then realized something.

"Hang on…" I ran back into my tent for Masume. In merely one minute, I was back at her side, having almost tripped Cloud in the process.

"What was…?"  
"Sword- you have no idea what will attack you out here." I laughed a little and she looked horrified.

"I have an idea- we ran into these… wooden things…"

I groaned now.

"You too? I had the misfortune of being alone without Masume when I ran across them." We both sighed. Then I blinked, realizing something. I glanced down at my boot. There was materia there.

"You have got to be shitting me…"

"What?" The brunette looked surprised.

"I didn't remember I had materia in my boots."

She chuckled.  
"Somehow, I should have figured it was something like that." We smiled at each other.

There was a comfortable silence between us as I lead her towards that hot spring that Red had had me at earlier.

"So, still haven't taken your hood off?" She asked casually. I stayed quiet, trying to ignore this question. "Why not?" She pressed a little.  
"Aerith." I warned.

"I doubt you have anything wrong with you. I think you're just afraid."

_No and yes._ I answered mentally. With a sigh, I just looked ahead.  
"Scura, you can show me."

I shook my head, "I can't, I'm sorry." I murmured. Suddenly, she went quiet, realizing that she had indeed pushed too far. I wasn't ready for anyone to see me. I doubted I ever would be.

"What's going on with you and Cloud?" She tried this one, slowly. I lifted my hand to my cheek, blushing. She caught on like a hawk, "Do you have a thing going on?"

Did girls really gossip this much?

"Not really, we're just acting more friendly to each other," I attempted to placate her with that, however, she would have none of it and quickly grabbed my arm.  
"I saw how you two were acting!" She said excitedly, "You were flirting!"

"Well, seeing as I was the only girl there; he probably chose to flirt with me rather then Red." I teased her. She laughed along with me.

"I guess so. But he did seem to keep a good eye on you as you were walking away…" She nudged my side. Once more, I blushed.

"Was he really?" I turned to look at my cloak covered bum, wondering why he would be staring. Unfortunately, while I wasn't _completely_ stupid in the way of men, I never really understood the male fascination with the lumpy parts of the female body.

"Maybe we should head back?" She asked after a little while. I shook my head.

"I wanna show you this so when you and Tifa want to, you can take a bath." At the word 'bath', Aerith's steps quickened. She did look a bit dirty, and certainly exhausted…

"What have you guys been doing? Taking turns dragging each other through the mud?" I asked, as she blinked and blushed.

"We had to wade through the river. It was freezing!"

I laughed, until seeing her pouting face… Then I just felt guilty.

"Must have been horrible for Tifa," I quickly said. "She's wearing a white shirt."

Aerith giggled, "She smacked Barrett twice."

I snickered now, shaking my head. Before she could say something else, the older woman tripped over a large branch. Barely managing to catch the back of her dress, I fell with her. It was silent for a moment.

"Ow…" We said simultaneously.

"How did you fall over that?" I complained, holding my hood down as I sat up.

"I wasn't paying attention." She sighed.

"You're spacier then I am, and _I'm_ the one with an attention problem…"

She raised a brow at me in confusion, then stood up, brushing off her already filthy pink dress. I stood as well, brushing off the jeans.  
"You have an attention problem?"

"Well, let me tell you about that…" I turned red, all the way down to my chest. Since she could see my neck, she knew there had to be some good gossip.

"Spill!"

"Hang on!" I cried, as she latched onto me, "We're almost there- it'll be warmer, at least."

The Pink Lady gave me the stink eye but complied with a huff.

"If I don't tell you, you can hit me?" I offered, making her roll her eyes.

"I wouldn't hit you- unless you did something stupid."

I smiled, but it was a little forced. If she knew who-_what_- I really was, she would probably hit me out of fear. I know I would. I would be horrified to see my face if I were a stranger. It's a shame I can't pretend I don't exist, because then the world would be better off.

All too soon, we reached the hot spring. The two of us tugged off our shoes and socks and thankfully dipped them into the water. My pants got wet, and her dress got drenched- both would feel horrible later but now neither of us cared.

"Now, tell me." She turned to look at me, as I looked down shyly, "Scura…"

"I uh… well, I'm afraid of chocobos, alright?" She nodded slowly, "Well, Cloud got on my nerves once, so I took off and ran into a chocobo herd."

"Ohh…" She fought off the look of amusement horribly. "Must have been horrible, seeing birds when you had a weapon. And isn't that the choco-lure in your boot?" She picked it up and I gasped.

"I didn't realize I had it!" I cried , slapping my forehead, "I'm giving that to chocoboy!"

She burst out laughing at my foolishness.

"Just go on," She prompted me with a small nudge.

"Fine," I huffed, folding my arms under my chest, "Well, after he chased it away from me, he just _had_ to turn around, go get it and then chase _me_ until he caught up. He picked me up and put me in front of him." I blushed again.

"I could feel each and every one of his muscles." I coughed, and she gaped, "_Every_ muscle."

"Ohh…" Now her face turned red as both of our minds drifted further into that thought span. With a cough at the same time, we looked back at each other sheepishly.

"Girls will be girls…"

We both jerked around to see a smug Cloud standing behind us.

"Cloud!" If it were possible, the both of us turned more red then before.

"You two are horrible gossips," He scolded, leaning against a tree.

"How long have you been there?" Aerith demanded. Cloud in turn looked at me with a perfectly arched brow.

"Every muscle?"

I squeaked and covered my face with my hands.

"Don't be shy," He teased, "You weren't when you were actually feeling things."

"Why are you here?!" I cried, not looking at him.

"Well, you've been gone a while and I really don't want to have to hear Red worrying about you two constantly. He seems to think that you're feeling worse, Scura…." I could feel his confused gaze burning onto my head.

"Just… a little bug."

"Bullshit," He sighed, off the flirty topic, for which I was grateful, "Listen, it's not looking great out here. Red says that he smells rain, so we want to get everyone into the tents they're staying in tonight."

"Alright," Aerith was watching me even as she pulled her feet out of the water and shoving them into her shoes. I silently did the same, not looking at her. She'd be disappointed I didn't tell her about being ill immediately. But I didn't want anyone to know.

No one.

"Come on." Cloud offered us his hands to help us up. As he pulled, I bowed my head.

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to go get some spare firewood…"

The two hesitated, then with a nod, Cloud began to tug her along.

"Just hurry back."

I smiled a little and waved, pulling up a large branch for show. Aerith smiled lightly, in a way that said that the two of us would be talking.

"Alright- and I claim bunking with Red!"

Aerith rolled her eyes at my quick attempt at evasion but followed Cloud anyway. I continued picking up sticks and branches until I couldn't see them anymore, and then wandered away from the area, still grabbing the branches as I went. I didn't want talk to anyone. I wanted to be alone. Finally, when I had an armload that should have been impossible for someone as tiny as me, I started back. I could smell the rain now, much better then I had before, and hurried to get back. While I didn't mind water, being caught in the rain is horrible when you rely on smell to get you places.

"Scura."

I almost dropped all the wood as I yelped in surprise. Red laughed quietly at my reaction and for some reason; I glared.

"What?" I snapped. My newest reaction must have surprised him, because he was quiet for a moment.

"I thought you might want to talk. You seemed rather distracted when you got back originally before. You _did_ attack Cloud, after all." I felt bad.

"I didn't mean to. He caught me off guard! ShinRa flashed through my head…"

Red shook his head.

"Calm down. I know you didn't mean it." He sat down by me as I picked up the wood I dropped. "I would offer to help…"

"No hands though." I smiled at him lightly and he smiled back. "I really don't feel like talking. Last time I did, Cloud came up behind me and Aerith and uh…" I shut up. Red raised a brow, but said nothing about it. We walked back to the camp with each other in silence. I wasn't sure what there was to talk about and I certainly had no idea what I could talk about.

He already knew I was planning on returning to ShinRa if my illness got too bad.

I think maybe that's why he was following me- to make sure I didn't leave them. I'm sure he thought it was just a passing thing- nothing dangerous about a cold, right? As if sensing my thoughts, he spoke.

"So," He began casually, "How are you feeling?"

"I could be better," I told him honestly, "But I'm better then I was before."

"I'm glad." He looked a little relieved. I sent him a small smile and in just a moment, we had entered the clearing into the campsite. I dumped the load of fire wood down at a slight distance from the actual fire itself. I excused myself as I felt the eyes of the two people I truly did not wish to see on me. I went into the tent that Red and I were to share.

Managing to fall asleep and not hear their whispers was hard enough for me. However, manage it I did. For once, my dreams did not remind me of horrid things.

"_Scura! My kitten!" I heard my mother's calls from the safety of my tree. I was lazing about one of the branches of an old, twisted tree, but my head did perk up at her voice._

"_I'm here!" I called, twisting around so my legs were the only thing that kept my dangling body from falling. I met her as she started for the tree, a grin on my face and hers. She reached out a pale hand, sharp nails carefully sliding through my hair._

"_My darling daughter… why have you not returned to me?" She asked, her crimson eyes staring at me curiously._

"_I am coming, Mother. But I am traveling with other people." My eyes darkened briefly, but rather then depress her with my mission that kept me from her, I changed the subject, "It is wonderful, mother! I have friends now!"_

"_Why don't you come down from that tree and tell me about it?" She smiled cheerfully, disarming me with ease. With a nod, I grip a branch tightly and drop my legs, landing in a cat like crouch before springing away._

"_Catch me if you can, mom!" I cry. With a laugh I began to run. Not far behind me, my mother followed at a short distance, letting me know that my running was almost in vain- she could catch me the second she wanted to. Frowning to myself, I kicked up the pace. As I took a turn, I slammed into a body made of almost nothing but muscle. Looking up, I found myself staring into the eyes of my father._

S-S-S-S-S-S

A day after that, we were quite unpleasantly surprised on our way to Junon as a large metal star tried to slice Tifa in half. Thankfully, she ducked out of the way in time, but it was still an irritation.

"What the hell?!" I demanded, raising my nose to sniff.

"Hya!" Came a very distinctively annoying sound as a girl with a hairband on her head landed on the ground, grabbing the star. She looked like a ninja wanna-be reject.

We all looked at each other, then Cloud shrugged and stepped forth. The fight should have been easily won by the girl with the throwing star, if you thought that projectiles were better. However, with just a few swings of the sword bigger then himself, the ninja wanna-be reject was knocked on her butt. I found I did not like her smell.

"Man... I can't believe I lost..." The girl stood up and jumped away from the group, looking like she had come out of the battle on top, rather then with her in the dirt. "You spikey-headed jerk! One more time, lets go one more time!"

Cloud snorted and put his sword away, walking back to us.

"Not interested" Was the simple reply she received. The girl ran forward, pumping her fists as though she was some champion. I really did not like her, and she was getting on my nerves; I didn't even fight the psycho!

" Thinkin' of running away? Stay and fight! FIGHT I said! Come on, what's the matter, huh? You're pretty scared of me, huh!?" She tried to goad him into another fight. Cloud's face was stony as he turned to look at her, though I had seen the irritation he barely hid.

"Petrified." He said after a short pause. The girl turned and strutted away in a cocky manner, one hand on her hip while the other was out as if she was trying to examine her nails.

"Hmm, just as I thought. What do you expect with my skills? Good luck to you guys too. If you feel up to it, we can go another round. Later!" She started to run off, giving me a sense of relief, then she hesitated and turned around. "I'm really gonna leave! Really!"

Cloud paused, sent a glance back at us and ran forward.

"Wait a second!" Our blond leader called. Looking at each other in surprise, the rest of the group ran up.

"The hell is dat blond foo' thinkin'?" Barrett grumbled to Tifa, who shrugged in response. The teenager looked at us in a form of triumph. She was steadily sinking into my rage zone.

" What is it, you still have somethin' for me? Hmm. So is that it? I know you want my help because I'm so good! You want me to go with you?" She flicked a hand through her hair with a sneer.

"That's right...." Cloud's monotone voice didn't even hint at why he was going to leave us to shoulder this irritation. The ninja wanna-be reject pumped her fists again.

"Heh heh... thought so. You put me in a spot. Hmm, what should I do? But if you want me that bad, I can't refuse... All right! I'll go with you!" She looked like she was about to do a victory dance. I could feel my eye twitching. Boots crawled from my hip to my shoulder and licked at my chin before diving under my cloak again. Cloud turned and began to walk away.

"Let's hurry on." You could almost hear him roll his eyes. Quickly, with an eagerness to walk away from the annoyance we now found in our group, we all followed.

"Huh? Hey... HEY!" She was completely ignored however.

"Wait! I haven't even told you my name... I'm Yuffie! Good to meetcha!" She stayed behind a little, and when I looked back, it looked like she was talking to herself. I raised a brow and looked at Red.

"What do you think her problem is?" Red shrugged and snorted.

"Who knows? Why did she attack us when we were peacefully traveling?" By now, she was chasing after us.

"Hey, wait up! Wait for me!" Once more she was ignored- none of us, it seemed, wanted to deal with her. Not even Aerith, who had the heart of a saint.

_I don't like saints… She's the exception._ I mused to myself. _Just so long as there isn't any holy water._

Apparently I said this out loud, as the whole group turned to look at me.

"What about holy water?" Tifa asked politely.

"Maybe he's one of those evil worshipers?" Everyone froze, except for me. I straightened completely and turned to look at Yuffie.

"Oh! He's a she… Wow, you can't tell from behind."

I snarled at her.

"Yes, I am a woman, I am Scura, for your information. And no, I am not one of those 'evil worshipers' as you so stupidly put it. I just have an aversion to the stuff. Now, if you do _not_ shut up, I will burn you to such a crisp, that not even the fiends will want to eat your corpse."

My words were met with obvious surprise from everyone. I bared my sharp teeth at her.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" She wondered.

I snarled, then fell into a coughing fit, covering my mouth before I could say something worse to the little idiot. The coughing caused me to start retching, and I quickly dove into the bushes, vomit and blood leaving my mouth at an alarming rate. Once I was finally done, I stumbled away from the bush which was dripping with my blood.

"Oh gross!" Yuffie screeched and jumped away. I opened my mouth to retort and pitched forward as a wave of dizziness came over me. Barrett held out his bulky arm and stopped me from kissing the ground.

"Yo! You okay?" I could feel his worried gaze on me. Whether he knew me well or not, I was part of his team and any member of his team that was not feeling well was going to be treated well, or there'd be hell to pay. At least I hoped that's what was going through his mind. You could never know what went through the mind of men.

_Except for sex. They're always thinking about that._ I giggled uncharacteristically.

"I do believe that's a no." Red said, eyeing me as he walked forward. "Scura, what's wrong?"

"Did she just vomit _blood_?" Yuffie drew everyone's attention.

"I don't like her," I said simply, "She made me vomit blood because she's entirely frustrating and her voice makes me mad face. Can I turn her into a crispy critter? She's really rude and- _Oh!_" My rant in a simple tone came to an end as I giggled again, "Look at the shiny bug! Hi buggy!" A purple tongue flicked from my shoulder and ate the bug.

"Aw! Buggy's gone!" I went quiet. "Did my shoulder just eat a bug?"

I looked up as I asked, honestly confused. Everyone was looking at each other, slightly pale and each one worried. Except Yuffie, she was still going on about how I just vomited blood.

"I think she needs a tranquilizer…" Tifa said slowly, moving for the backpack that Barrett was holding. Setting me steady on my feet, he handed her the bag.

_I do not need a tranquilizer, Tifa. Only crazy people like Hojo need a tranquilizer. I am not a crazy person, am I?_ I opened my mouth to say this when I was stuck in the arm by a rather large needle. I stared, stunned at my arm briefly.

"I really hate needles," I complained. "They hurt- why did you stick me with a needle?" I pitched forward again, this time into Cloud's waiting arms.

"Help me get her on my back?" Aerith and Tifa hurried to help, moving my arms to wrap around Cloud's neck while his hands moved to grip me by the legs.

"I do not like being man handled," I giggled and rested my head on his shoulder. "Ow! One of your spikes just hit my eye!" I was already starting to calm down however, feeling the dreaded pull of sleep that tranquilizers forced me into.

"Just relax, Scura. When we get to Junon, we'll find a doctor for you," Aerith assured, patting my shoulder.

"Oo-kie." I yawned and nestled into Cloud. It was quiet for a few minutes, which I was thankful for and was about to use to my best abilities; sleep did sound fantastic after all.

It was broken by Yuffie's loud voice.

"Why are we going to Junon?"

"Tracking Sephiroth." Cloud sighed.

"Who? Sephi- _Oooh!_ I know who he is!"

"Then we don't need to explain," Red said, from what appeared to be right by me. Instead, she started going on about what _she_ knew about Sephiroth. After about ten minutes of her opinions on now many subjects, I forced myself to speak.

"Yuffie…"

"Shut the hell up!" Everyone else finished for me. She shut up for a while, then started up again. My groan matched everyone else's.

By the demonic gods who guide me, this was going to be one long, long trip.

* * *

There you are my friends! Yuffie is driving Scura insane and it's not even been 24 hours yet! And our dear Scura was wrong- it was not her feminine time that was hindering her- it's her blood warring with itself. The demonic against the other part of her blood. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm currently working on an update now, and hopefully I will be able to get that posted sooner then this, ne?

Please review my friend ^_~


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